Arrays

Arrays are special variables which can hold more than one value under the same variable name, organised with an index. Arrays are defined using a very straightforward syntax:

/* defines an array of 10 integers */
int numbers[10];

Accessing a number from the array is done using the same syntax. Notice that arrays in C are zero-based, which means that if we defined an array of size 10, then the array cells 0 through 9 (inclusive) are defined. numbers[10] is not an actual value.

int numbers[10];

/* populate the array */
numbers[0] = 10;
numbers[1] = 20;
numbers[2] = 30;
numbers[3] = 40;
numbers[4] = 50;
numbers[5] = 60;
numbers[6] = 70;

/* print the 7th number from the array, which has an index of 6 */
printf("The 7th number in the array is %d", numbers[6]);

Arrays can only have one type of variable, because they are implemented as a sequence of values in the computer's memory. Because of that, accessing a specific array cell is very efficient.

Exercise

• The code below does not compile, because the grades variable is missing.
• One of the grades is missing. Can you define it so the grade average will be 85?