SLIIT Academy

Higher National Diploma in Information Technology– Year 2,

Semester 2

Data Structures and Algorithms

Arrays
Gayana Fernando

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Lecture 02 - Arrays
By Dr Gayana Fernando
Leaning Objectives
LO1: Critically analyze data structures for a given problem and use the most suitable data structure
that can be use when implementing a solution for a given problem.

LO2 : Design algorithms for solving problems that use data structure Array

LO4: Develop the ability to compare and contrast the performance of data structures.

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Outline

• Introduction
• Array
Implementation
• Array Algorithms

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What we learned
last week
• What are data
structures ?
• What are algorithms ?
• What are the usages of
data structures ?
• What do you mean by
efficiency of a program
?
What is an Array?
• An array is a group of variables of the same data type and referred to
by a common name.
• An array is a block of consecutive memory locations that hold values
of the same data type.

Value Value Value Value Value Value

…….
01 02 03 04 05 06

• Most used data structure.

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 • You might come across a situation where you
need to store set of similar type of values.
• To store the marks of students.
Why Do We • To store prices of items.
• To store details of election candidates.
Need Arrays? • To store the tax rates of employees.
• These details can be stored one after the other
(as a sequence).

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More about Arrays
• Individual locations are called array’s elements.
• Each location is identified by a number, called index or subscript.
• An index can have any integer value from 0 to array’s length - 1.
Indexes

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Value Value Value Value Value Value Value
01 02 03 04 05 06 07

Elements
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Array Index

• Specific array elements are

referred to by using array’s
name and the element’s index.
• Index is written within square
brackets following array’s name)
• Array Indices start from 0.
• Therefore the 1st element of an
array a is referred to as
arrayName[0] and the nth
element as arrayName[n-1].
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Array Length
• In Java, the length of an array is fixed at the
time of its creation.
• Java interpreter checks the values of indices
at run time and throws
ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException if an
index is negative or if it is greater than the
length of the array - 1.
• The biggest disadvantage of arrays

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Arrays as Objects

• In Java, an array is an object.

• An array can hold elements of any data type; primitive or any class
type.
• If the type of its elements are anyType, then the type of the array is
anyType[ ].
• Recall: String args[]

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How to Create an Array?

• Array declaration:
anyType [] arrayName;
• Like other objects, the declaration creates only a reference, initially set to null.
An array must be created before it can be used.
• One way to create an array:
arrayName = new anyType [length];

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 What really happens…
• When an array is created, space is allocated to hold its elements and the
elements get the default values.
anyType [] arrName = new anyType [length];

arrName d.v.
d.v.
d.v.
d.v

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Some Examples
int [] taxRate= new int[10]; length 10, all
elements are set to 0
String [] words = new String[100];
Length 100 , all
double [] gasPrices; elements are set to
null
gasPrices = new double[12];

Rectangle [] recList = new Rectangle[5];

length 5, all elements
are set to null

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Create an Array: Method 2
• The other way to create an array is:
anyType [] arrName = {values separated by commas};
• Here array is declared and initialized in one statement.
• Examples:

String [] candidates = {“Ranil",“Sajith“,”anura”}

double [] gasPrices = {370,380,400};

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How to get the Array Length?
• The length of an array is determined when that array is created.
• The length is either given explicitly or comes from the length of the
{…} initialization list.
• The length of an array arrayName is referred to in the code as
arrayName.length
• length is a public property (not a method) in an array object.

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Initialization of Array Elements
• Unless specific values are given in a {…} list, all the elements are
initialized to the default value:
0 for numbers,
false for booleans
null for objects or Strings.

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Traverse through an Array
• An array can be traversed through using any loop: (for/while/do-
while)

double [] gasPrices = {3.05,3.17,3.59};

for(int c=0; c<gasPrices.length; c++)

{
...

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Unordered Arrays

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 Unordered Arrays
1. Create a class called “ArrayEx” with following properties.
• An array to integer numbers
• A variable to hold the maximum size
• A variable to hold the number of values in the array
2. Write a constructure to initiate properties
3. Write a method to insert a value to the array.
4. Write a method to search a value in the array. The method should return array index if you
find it, if not -1.
5. Write a method to delete a value in the array. If the value is there , we need to move all the
items with higher index values down one elements to fill in the ‘hole’ left by the deleted
element.
6. Write a method to display all the values in the array.
01 : Class Properties

numberList maxSize

count
 02: Constructer
0
myArray maxSize
1 5
2

3
0 index
4
 03: Insert a Value
0
myArray maxSize
1 5
2

3
0 index
4
60,50,10
 03: Delete a Value
0 60
myArray maxSize
1 50
5
2 10
3
3 index
4
60,50,10
Ordered Arrays

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Ordered Arrays
• The values are arranged according to an order (Ascending /
Descending)

0 1 2 3

10 20 30 40
Ordered Arrays
• Modify the insert method.
• Need to find the correct location (above the smaller value and lower the
larger value).
• Move all the larger values to get space.
 03: Insert a Value
0 60
myArray maxSize
1 5
2

3
0 index
4
60,50,10,40
public void addValue(int value)
{
int i;
for(i = 0;i < count; i++)
{
if(numberList[i] > value) {
break;
}
}
for(int j = count; j > i; j--)
{
numberList[j]= numberList[j-1];
}
nunberList[i] = value;
count++;
}
Ordered Arrays - Searching a
value
• We can use “Binary Search” algorithm to look for a value in
an ordered array.
• Searching is efficient in ordered arrays.
Arrays

Advantages Disadvantages
• Accessing /Searching a value is • Fixed Size
easy • Inserting / deleting to ordered
• Implementation is simple array are not efficient.
Array – efficiency
• If the array contains N elements
• Inserting a new element will take O(n) time
• Searching / Deleting
• Worst case – O(n)
• Best case – O(1)