Beginning Programming with C++ For Dummies®

Chapter 15. Arrays

In This Chapter

• Expanding simple variables into an array

• Comparing the array to a rental car lot

• Indexing into an array

• Initializing an array

The variables declared so far have been of different types with different sizes and capabilities. Even so, each variable has been capable of holding only a single value at a time. If I wanted to hold three numbers, I had to declare three different variables. The problem is that there are times when I want to hold a set of numbers that are somehow closely related. Storing them in variables with names that bear some similarity of spelling like nArg1, nArg2, and so on may create associations in my mind but not for poor, ignorant C++.

There is another class of variable known as the array that can hold a series of values. Arrays are the subject of this chapter and the next chapter. (Here I present arrays in general. In the next chapter, I look at the particular case of the character array.)

What Is an Array?

Tip

If you are mathematically inclined and were introduced to the concept of the array in high school or college, you may want to skim this section.

You may think of a variable as a truck. There are small trucks, like a short int, capable of holding only a small value; and there are larger trucks, like a long double, capable of holding astoundingly large numbers. However, each of these trucks can hold only a single value.

Each truck has a unique designator. Perhaps you give your vehicles names, but even if you don't, each has a license ...