Programmers can identify, store and use different types of data, using 1-D Arrays and records.
1-D Arrays allow programmers to store data in a list (provided that the data is of the same data type).
For example, to store a list of Scottish cities you could create a 1-D array.
A programmer can define the number of variables held in a list when they create a 1-D array.
An index is created to be able to identify each variable in the list. The index will start at the value 0.
Eg to store the name of Scottish cities, a 1-D array could be created with seven different index values that identify each item of data. In reference language this could be represented as:
DECLARE scottishCities INITIALLY ["Glasgow", "Dundee", "Perth", "Aberdeen", "Stirling", "Edinburgh", "Inverness"]
Scottish cities | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Glasgow | Dundee | Perth | Aberdeen | Stirling | Edinburgh | Inverness |
It is common to identify the number of elements that need to be stored in the array when you use software development langugages.
Eg a 1-D array for Scottish cities held in Visual Basic could be represented as:
Dim scottish_cities (7) as String
The value shown in brackets determines the number of elements that are held within the 1-D array.