Jagged array

Memory layout of a jagged array.

In computer science a jagged array, also known as a ragged array, is a type of multidimensional array data structure whose elements consist of one-dimensional arrays, hence it is an "array of arrays". The array is called "jagged" because the elemental arrays can be of different sizes,[1] producing rows of jagged edges when visualized as output. In contrast, C-styled arrays are always rectangular.[2]

Multidimensional arrays in languages such as Java, Python (multidimensional lists), Ruby, Visual Basic.NET, Perl, PHP, JavaScript, Objective-C, Swift, and Atlas Autocode are implemented as Iliffe vectors.

Examples

In C#, jagged arrays can be created with the following code:[3]

int[][]c;
c=new int[2][]; // creates 2 rows
c[]=new int[5]; // 5 columns for row 0
c[1]=new int[3]; // create 3 columns for row 1

In C++/CLI, jagged array can be created with the code:[4]

using namespace System;
int main()
{
array<array<double> ^> ^ Arrayname = gcnew array <array<double> ^> (4);// array contains 4 
//elements
return 0;
}

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jesse Liberty; Brian MacDonald (18 November 2008). Learning C# 3.0. "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". pp. 210–. ISBN 978-0-596-55420-0.
  2. ↑ Don Box (2002). Essential .Net: The Common Language Runtime. Addison-Wesley Professional. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-201-73411-9.
  3. ↑ Paul J. Deitel; Harvey M. Deitel (26 September 2008). C# 2008 for Programmers. Pearson Education. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-13-701188-9.
  4. ↑ "Jagged Arrays". FunctionX. Retrieved 26 November 2014.