Array data type

In computer science, an array type is a data type that is meant to describe a collection of elements (values or variables), each selected by one or more indices (identifying keys) that can be computed at run time by the program.

Description

Such a collection is usually called an array variable, array value, or simply array.

By analogy with the mathematical concepts of vector and matrix, array types with one and two indices are often called vector type and matrix type, respectively.

Language support

In programming languages, support for array types may include:

• Certain built-in array data types
• Some syntactic constructions (array type constructors) that the programmer may use to define such types and declare array variables
• Notation for indexing array elements

See also

• Array data structure
• Computer science
• Data structure
• Data type
• Zero-based numbering

External links

• Array data type @ Wikipedia
• Comparison of programming languages (array) @ Wikipedia