Multi-dimensional
Arrays in C
In
C programming, Arrays can have any number of dimensions.
if you want to store data as a tabular form, like a table with rows and columns, need to get with multidimensional array.
you
can create an array of arrays. These arrays are known as multidimensional
arrays
A multidimensional
array is basically an array of arrays.
In simple words, an
array created with more than one dimension (size) is called a multi-dimensional
array. The multi-dimensional array can be of a two-dimensional array or
three-dimensional array or four-dimensional array or more.
type name[size1] [size2] ...[sizeN];
Example: int a [3][3][3];
int
num1[2][3];
float
num2[5][6];
Three Dimensional Array:-
datatype
name[size_1][size_2][size_3];
Example: -
int
students[2][3][4];
float
bills[3][4][3];
Array
is declared in the program, contiguous memory to it elements are allocated.
Initial address of the array – address of the first element of the array is
called base address of the array.
Each
element will occupy the memory space required to accommodate the values for its
type, i.e.; depending on elements datatype.
1, 4
or 8 bytes of memory is allocated for each element.
Total memory allocated to an
Array = Number of elements * size of one element
Total
memory allocated to an Integer Array of N elements = Number of elements * size
of one element
= N * 4 bytes
= 10 * 4 bytes = 40 Bytes, where N = 10
= 500 * 4 bytes = 2000 Bytes, where N = 500
Row Major Order
When
we store the array elements in row major order, first we will store the
elements of first row followed by second row and so on. Hence in the
memory we can find the elements of first row followed by second row and so on.
In memory there will not be any separation between the rows.
Column Major Order
Pass arrays to a function
in C
In
C programming, you can pass an entire array to functions.
passing
similar elements as an array takes less time than passing each element to a
function as we are only passing the base address of the array to the function,
and other elements can be accessed easily as an array is a contiguous memory
block of the same data types.
void myFunction(int param[10])
{
.
.
.
}
Eg. Pass arrays to a function
Program to calculate
the sum of array elements by passing to a function
#include
<stdio.h>
float
calculateSum(float num[]);
int main()
{
float result, num[] = {23.4, 55, 22.6, 3,
40.5, 18};
// num array is passed to calculateSum()
result = calculateSum(num);
printf("Result = %.2f", result);
return 0;
}
float
calculateSum(float num[]) {
float sum = 0.0;
for (int i = 0; i < 6; ++i) {
sum += num[i];
}
return sum;
}
Advantage
of Arrays
- Less amount of code: Using array we
can aggregate N variables of same data type in a single data structure. Otherwise,
we have to declare N individual variables.
- Easy access of elements: We can
access any element of array using array name and index. We can access all
elements serially by iterating from index 0 to size-1 using a loop.
- Easy to implement algorithms: Certain
algorithms can be easily implemented using array like searching and
sorting, finding maximum and minimum elements.
- Random Access: We can access any
elements of array.
Disadvantages
or Limitations of Arrays
·
Array is Static Data Structure. We cannot change the size of array in
run-time.
·
We must know in advance that how many elements are to be stored in
array.
·
Only elements of same data types can be stored in an array. We cannot
store elements of multiple data types in a single array.
·
As Array elements are stored in consecutive memory locations. So,
insertions and deletions of an element is time consuming
·
As we cannot change the size of an array,
Milan Tomic
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