Using Arrays

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 How to declare an array and assign
values to array elements
 How to initialize an array
 How to use subscripts to access array
elements
 How to use the Length field
 How to use foreach to control array
access

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 How to manually search an array to find
an exact match
 How to search an array to find a range
match
 How to use the BinarySearch() method
 How to use the Sort() and Reverse()
methods

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 How to pass an array to a method
 How to use parameter arrays
 How to declare an array of objects
 How to use the BinarySearch() and Sort()
methods with object arrays

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 Sometimes storing just one value in memory at a
time is not adequate
 An array is a list of data items that all have the
same type and same name
 Example of array declaration:
double[] salesFigure;
 Like objects, memory is not actually reserved
until the new keyword is used
 Example: salesFigure = new double[20];

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 A subscript or index is an integer contained
within square brackets that indicate the position
of one of an array’s variables, or elements
 An array’s elements are numbered beginning
with 0
 A common mistake is to forget that the first
element in an array is element 0

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 Output of the ArrayDemo1 program

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 Arrays, like object fields, have default values
 You can assign nondefault values to array
elements upon creation
 Examples:
int[] myScores = new int[5] {100,76,88,100,90};
int[] myScores = new int[] {100,76,88,100,90};
int[] myScores = {100,76,88,100,90};

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 The power of arrays become apparent when you
begin to use subscripts that are variables rather
than constant values
 Example:theArray[sub] vs. theArray[1]
 A loop can be used to cycle through the elements
of an array
 Through the use of loops and arrays, code can
become more efficient

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 The subscript used to access an array must be
between the range of 0 to Length-1
 Because every array is automatically a member
of the class System.Array, you can use the
fields and methods that are part of the
System.Array class
 The Length() field is a member of the
System.Array class

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 C# supports a foreach statement that you can
use to cycle through every array element without
using subscripts
 With the foreach statement, the programmer
provides a temporary variable that automatically
holds each array value in turn

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 One way to determine if some variable holds one
of many possible valid values is to use a series of
if statements
 Instead of creating a long series of if statements,
a more efficient solution is to compare the
variable against the items in an array
 In certain situations, where arrays are involved, it
might be a good idea to use parallel arrays

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 Accessing information in parallel arrays

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 The BinarySearch() method finds a requested
value in a sorted array
 This method accepts two arguments: an array
and the field to be searched for
 The method returns –1 if the value is not found in
the array, otherwise it returns the index where
the value is located

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 This method does NOT work under the
following conditions:
 If the array items are not arranged in
ascending order, the BinarySearch() method
does not work correctly
 If the array holds duplicated values, then the
BinarySearch may not work
 If you want to find a range match rather that an
exact match, the BinarySearch() method does
not work

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 The Sort() method arranges array items in ascending order

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 The Reverse() method reverses the order of items in an array

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 When you pass an array to a method, changes
you make to array elements within the method
are permanent
 Arrays, like all objects, are passed by reference
 Within the method header, a parameter is
declared as an array using square brackets after
the argument type

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 When you don’t know how many arguments you
might eventually send to a method, you can
declare a local array within the method header
using the keyword param
 For example:
public static void DisplayStrings (param string[]
people)

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 ParamsDemo program and the output

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 You can declare arrays that hold elements of
objects
 To use a method that belongs to an object that is
part of an array, insert the appropriate subscript
notation after the array name and before the dot-
method
 Example:
 empArray[x].SetId(999)
 empArray[x].SetSalary(7.25)

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 You can pass a single array element to a method
in exactly the same manner as you would pass a
variable. Alternatively, instead of passing a single
array element to a method, you can pass an entire
array.
 When you don’t know how many arguments you
might eventually send to a method, you can
declare a local array within the method header by
using the keyword params
 Just as you can declare arrays of integers or
doubles, you can declare arrays that hold
elements of any type
 When you create a class containing fields, you
must create an IComparable interface containing a
CompareTo() method
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 An array is a list of data items, all of which have
the same type and the same name
 In C#, arrays are objects of a class named
System.Array; like all objects, their fields are
initialized to default values
 The power of arrays becomes apparent when you
begin to use subscripts that are variables rather
than constant values
 When you work with array elements, you must
ensure that the subscript you use remains in the
range 0 through length -1

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 You can use the foreach statement to cycle
through every array element without using
subscripts
 When you want to determine whether some
variable holds one of many possible valid values,
you can compare the variable to a list of values
in an array
 You can create parallel arrays to more easily
perform a range match
 The BinarySearch() method finds a requested
value in a sorted array
 The Sort() method arranges array items in
ascending order. The Reverse() method reverses
the order of items in an array.
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 The use of methods like BinarySearch() and
Sort() become complicated when you use them
with arrays of user-defined objects
 When you create a class containing many fields,
you must tell the compiler which field to use
when making comparisons
 An interface is a collection of methods that can
be used by any class, as long as the class
provides a definition to override the interface’s
abstract definition

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 C# contains an interface named IComparable,
which contains the definition for the CompareTo()
method that compares one object to another and
returns an integer

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 When you create a class whose members you will
want to compare, you must include two
additional features in your class:
 A single colon and the interface name IComparable after
the class name
 You must write a method containing the header
int IComparable.CompareTo(Object o)

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 The CompareTo() method must return an integer
value

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 IComparable.CompareTo() method for Employee class

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