Array is a linear data structure consisting of a collection of elements which are stored in contiguous physical memory locations and can be identified by an index

Typically, we may encounter 2 types of array, divided by dimension: one-dimensional and two-dimensional array

One dimensional (1D) array

Given A as a one-dimensional array which has 4 elements like the below image

Each element in the array can be accessed directly by A[0], A[1], A[2], and A[3] with the corresponding value 9, 2, 6 and 8

Traverse all elements in a 1D array

We can use one for-loop or while-loop to traverse all elements in a 1D array

public class Array1D {  
    void traversal(int[] A) {
        for (int i = 0; i < A.length; i++) {
            System.out.println(A[i]);
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int[] A = {9, 2, 6, 8};
        new Array1D().traversal(A);
    }
}

Output

9  
2  
6  
8  

Complexity

  • Time complexity: O(n) where n is the array size

  • Space complexity: O(1)

Two-dimensional (2D) array

Given A as a two-dimensional array which has 8 elements like the below image

Each element in the array can be accessed directly by A[0][0], A[0][1], A[0][2], A[0][3], A[1][0], A[1][1], A[1][2] and A[1][3] with the corresponding value 9, 2, 6, 8, 5, 7, 1 and 3

A 2D array can be seen as a table with rows and columns. The above array has 4 columns and 2 rows

Traverse all elements in a 2D array

To traverse all elements in a 2D array, we have to use two for-loop or while-loop

public class Array2D {  
    void traversal(int[][] A) {
        for (int i = 0; i < A.length; i++) {
            for (int j = 0; j < A[0].length; j++) {
                System.out.println(A[i][j]);
            }
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int[][] A = {{9, 2, 6, 8}, {5, 7, 1, 3}};
        new Array2D().traversal(A);
    }
}

Output

9  
2  
6  
8  
5  
7  
1  
3  

Complexity

  • Time complexity: O(n*m) where n is the number of columns and m is the number of rows

  • Space complexity: O(1)

Search and Sort an array