Arrays store similar data in a linear sequence, allowing fast access to any part. They are static and have predictable memory addresses, making them ideal for sorting and hash tables.
An array data structure is a method of storing similar types of data in a linear sequence. This linear sequence allows very fast and efficient access to any part of the array. Each piece of data in an array is in a numbered location called an index . The actual data that is in a particular index is called an item. Arrays are used extensively in most computer programming languages and are the basis for many other types of data structures.
One of the main characteristics of an array data structure is the way it is stored in memory. In most cases, arrays are stored in a linear sequence. Other data structures, such as linked lists, can have each element stored anywhere random in memory scattered over the entire area of available space. An array is stored sequentially, so a variety of efficient operations can be performed to quickly find the ‘address of an index in memory and fetch the data there.
There are several ways to declare an array data structure. The simplest form is a one-dimensional array, which starts at index zero and can have as many indices as needed. A two-dimensional array has two indices when referenced, similar to the width and the height used to assemble coordinates on a grid. Multidimensional arrays can have three or more indexes into the array. Although the array is being accessed with more than one reference index, the data is still linearly stored in memory.
Arrays are different from other data structures, such as linked lists. A linked list is a dynamic structure that can grow and shrink during program execution. For the most part, arrays are static and their size cannot be changed during execution. This means that an array limits the amount of elements that can be stored during runtime. In contrast, an array allows completely random access to the elements it contains, unlike a linked list which must be traversed sequentially to reach the elements in between and at the end.
The speed of an array data structure makes it perfectly suited for use in other more complex data types, such as hash tables. The predictability of element memory addresses can also be used to implement very fast array splicing algorithms which can move data quickly. This is particularly useful for sorting operations such as bubble sorts which are perfectly suited for use with arrays.
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