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Hi
Let's make a comparison between an array and structure. An array is a kind of macro-variable which contains in itself very much closely related variables. e.g. a human could be an array (or, macro-molecule) and all humans could be its elements (or, individual variables). On the other hand a structure is also a macro-variable which combines attributes of a single object etc into one whole. Please correct me. Thank you.
O_o
Dude, why don't you just get a book?
Soma
It might be easier if your found a good introductory textbook, rather than making random guesses about what various terms mean.
A data structure is a way of organising (i.e. storing in a structured manner) a set of data values of various types.
An array is a collection of values, all of the same type, stored sequentially in memory.
Your term "macro-variable" is meaningless.
Dude, :wink:Quote:
Originally Posted by phantomotap
I have a book! Was just trying to confirm if my conceptual understanding was correct.
Best wishes
Jackson
I think the analogy with "macro-molecules" would be more appropriate to objects, which are structures, and not arrays.
But it is still not very useful, and your conceptual understanding: "On the other hand a structure is also a macro-variable which combines attributes of a single object etc into one whole," is not very meaningful either. So do you mean the difference between an array and a structure is that an array does not combine something into a whole?
This is just plain the wrong kind of language to use, focussing on the wrong things. So IMO: your conceptual understanding is NOT correct.
C/C++ arrays are homogeneously typed, contiguous data structures. Describing them as "macro" anything is wrong because it implies an array is organized in some some kind of meaningful and dynamic way. It is not. It is just one variable after another, all of exactly the same sort, in a single sequence: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th. That's it.
Structs are also contiguous in memory but can be heterogenous; they may contain different types, and in C++, blocks of executable code (function definitions). However, structs must be pre-defined, they cannot have members added dynamically, where as an array can. But a struct can contain an array (and you can have an array of structs).
a better way of looking at it might be to consider a person to be an object of type Human, where Human is a struct, with members (which may also be objects) of type Head, Arm, Leg, Heart, Lung, etc. The Human population of the earth could be seen as an array of Human objects. but this is still just a very general, and somewhat inaccurate analogy (as are most analogies).
an array's elements are always all of the same (base) type, and are referenced by using either pointer arithmetic or the array index [] operator.
a struct may contain elements of many types, and its members are referenced with the dot or -> operators.
An array is a primitive container of a single type. It's like a row of people. There are also standard objects that function this way, which generally should be used in favor of arrays. These objects are classes that behave like arrays.
A class or struct is a bunch or related data lumped together into one type. In object oriented programming, classes abstractly represent objects or things that function like objects.
in keeping with the chemical analogy:
array is to polymer as object (a struct or class) is to molecule