Data Structure and Algorithms

Affefah Qureshi
Department of Computer Science
Iqra University, Islamabad Campus.
Arrays
•An array is defined as
• Ordered collection of a fixed number of elements
• All elements are of the same data type

•Basic operations
• Direct access to each element in the array
• Values can be retrieved or stored in each element
Properties of an Array
•Ordered
• Every element has a well defined position
• First element, second element, etc.
•Fixed size or capacity
• Total number of elements are fixed
•Homogeneous
• Elements must be of the same data type (and size)
• Use arrays only for homogeneous data sets
•Direct access
• Elements are accessed directly by their position
• Time to access each element is same
• Different to sequential access where an element is only accessed after the
preceding elements
Declaring Arrays in C/C++
dataType arrayName[size];
• datatype – Any data type, e.g., integer, character, etc.
• arrayName – Name of array using any valid identifier
• intExp – Constant expression that evaluates to a positive integer

• Example:
• const int SIZE = 10; Why constant?
• Int list[SIZE];

• Compiler reserves a block of consecutive memory locations enough to hold size of

values int.
Accessing Arrays in C/C++
arrayName[index];
• indexExp – called index, is any expression that evaluates to a positive
integer
• In C/C++
• Array index starts at 0
• Elements of array are indexed 0, 1, 2, …, SIZE‐1 list[0] 7
list[1]
• [ ] is called array subscripting operator
list[2] 5
•Example list[3]
• Int value = list[2];

...
• list[0] = value + 2;
list[9]
 C/C++ Implementation of an Array ADT
As an ADT In C/C++
Ordered Index: 0 ,1 ,2 , … SIZE‐1
Fixed Size intExp is constant
Homogeneous dataType is the type of all elements
Direct Access Array subscripting operator [ ]
Array Initialization in C/C++
dataType arrayName[index] = {list of values}
•In C/C++, arrays can be initialized at declaration
• index is optional: Not necessary to specify the size
•Example: Numeric arrays
double score[ ] = {0.11,0.13, 0.16, 0.18, 0.21}
0 1 2 3 4
score 0.11 0.13 0.16 0.18 0.21

•Example: Character arrays

char vowel[5] = { ‘A’, ‘E’, ‘I’, ‘O’, ‘U’ }
0 1 2 3 4
vowel A E I O U
 Array Initialization in C/C++
• Fewer values are specified than the declared size of an array
• Numeric arrays: Remaining elements are assigned zero
• Character arrays: Remaining elements contains null character ‘\0’
• ASCII code of ‘\0’ is zero

• Example:
• double score[5] = {0.11, 0.13, 0.16}
0 1 2 3 4
score 0.11 0.13 0.16 0 0

• char name[6] = {‘J’, ‘O’, ‘H’, ‘N’}

0 1 2 3 4 5
name J O H N \0 \0
• If more values are specified than declared size of an array
• Error is occurred: Handling depends on compiler
 Array Addressing
•Consider an array declaration: int list [4] = { 1, 2, 4, 5}
• Compiler allocates a block of four memory spaces
• Each memory space is large enough to store an int value
• Four memory spaces are contiguous
•Base address
• Address of the first byte (or word) in the contiguous block of memory
• Address of the memory location of the first array element
• Address of element list[0]

•Memory address associated with arrayName stores the base address

•Example: list list[0] 1000
• cout << list << endl; (Print 1000) 1001
1002
• cout << *list << endl; (Print 1) list[1] 1003
1004
1006
•* is dereferencing operator 1007
• Returns content of a memory location list[2] 1008
1009
list[3] 1010
1013
1014
1015
Array Addressing
•Consider a statement: cout << list[3];
• Requires array reference list[3] be translated into memory address
• Offset: Determines the address of a particular element w.r.t. base address

•Translation
• Base address + offset = 1000 + 3 x sizeof(int) = 1012
• Content of address 1012 are retrieved & displayed

•An address translation is carried out each time an array element is

accessed
list list[0] 1000
1001
•What will be printed and why? 1002
1003
list[1] 1004
cout << *(list+3) << endl; 1006
list[2] 1007
1008
1009
list[3] 1010
1013
1014
1015
Questions
Why does an array index
start at zero?

Why arrays are not passed

by value?
 Two Dimensional Arrays –
Declaration
dataType arrayName[intExp1][intExp2];
•intExp1 – constant expression specifying number of rows
•intExp2 – constant expression specifying number of columns
•Example:
const int NUM_ROW = 2, NUM_COLUMN =
4;
double scoreTable [NUM_ROW][NUM_COLUMN];
•Initialization:
Double scoreTable [ ][4] = {{0.5, 0.6, 0.3}, {0.6, 0.3, 0.8}};
• List the initial values in braces, row by row
• May use internal braces for each row to improve readability
 Two Dimensional Arrays –
Processing
arrayName[row index][col index];
• indexExp1 – row index
• indexExp2 – column index

• Rows and columns are numbered from 0 score [0] [1] [2] [3]
• Use nested loops to vary two indices [0] 2.7
• Row-wise or column-wise manner [1]
• Example: [2] 0.7
[3]
double value = score[2][1];

...
...

...

...
score[0][3] = value + 2.0;
[9]
Two-dimensional Arrays in
Memory
• Two ways to be represented in memory
• Column majored
• Column by column
• Row majored
• Row by row
• Representation depends upon the programming language
(1,1) (1,1)
(2,1) Column 1 (1,2) Row 1
(3,1) (1,3)
(1,2) (1,4)
(2,2) Column 2 (2,1)
(3,2) (2,2) Row 2
(1,3) (2,3)
(2,3) Column 3 (2,4)
(3,3) (3,1)
(1,4) (3,2) Row 3
(2,4) Column 4 (3,3)
(3,4) (3,4)
Any Question So Far?