A Common-Sense Guide to Data Structures and Algorithms

Ordered Arrays

The ordered array is almost identical to the array we discussed in the previous chapter. The only difference is that ordered arrays require that the values are always kept—you guessed it—in order. That is, every time a value is added, it gets placed in the proper cell so that the values of the array remain sorted. In a standard array, on the other hand, values can be added to the end of the array without taking the order of the values into consideration.

For example, let’s take the array [3, 17, 80, 202]:

Assume that we wanted to insert the value 75. If this array were a regular array, we could insert the 75 at the end, as follows: ...