Introduction

Definition

An array is a fixed-sized data structure that can store a collection of similar data items at contiguous memory locations. The elements of an array can be accessed randomly using the indices of an array.

Ordinary variables are capable of holding only one value at a time. However, if there is a large amount of similar data to be handled, using a different variable for each data item would make the job unwieldy, tedious, and confusing. Instead, by combining all this similar data into an array, the whole task of organizing and manipulating the data would become easier and more efficient.