Lecture 75:- Introduction to Array

An array is a data structure that stores a collection of elements of the same type in a contiguous block of memory. It provides a way to store and access multiple values under a single variable name.

In programming, arrays are commonly used to organize and work with sets of related data. Each element in an array is identified by its index, which represents its position in the array. The index starts from 0 for the first element and increments by 1 for each subsequent element.

Here are some key concepts related to arrays:

1. Declaration: To create an array, you need to declare its type and specify its size (the number of elements it can hold). For example, in many programming languages like Python, you can declare an array of integers with a size of 5 as follows: int_array = [0, 0, 0, 0, 0].
2. Accessing Elements: You can access individual elements of an array using their index. For example, to access the third element of int_array, you would use int_array[2] since indexing starts at 0.
3. Modifying Elements: You can modify the value of an array element by assigning a new value to it using the index. For example, int_array[1] = 10 would change the value of the second element to 10.
4. Length: The length of an array refers to the number of elements it contains. It can be accessed using the len() function or a property provided by the programming language. For example, length = len(int_array) would store the length of int_array in the variable length.
5. Iteration: You can iterate over the elements of an array using loops, such as for or while, and perform operations on each element.
6. Array Operations: Arrays support various operations, such as sorting, searching, inserting, deleting, and merging elements. The availability of these operations may depend on the programming language or specific libraries.

It's important to note that arrays have fixed sizes once declared, which means you can't easily add or remove elements beyond the initial size. In some programming languages, there are other data structures, such as dynamic arrays or lists, that provide more flexibility for resizing.

Arrays are a fundamental data structure and play a crucial role in many algorithms and applications. Understanding their properties and operations is essential for efficient programming and data manipulation.