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In computer programming, a variable-length array (VLA), also called variable-sized or runtime-sized, is an array data structure whose length is determined at runtime, instead of at compile time. [1] In the language C , the VLA is said to have a variably modified data type that depends on a value (see Dependent type ).
For every type T, except void and function types, there exist the types "array of N elements of type T". An array is a collection of values, all of the same type, stored contiguously in memory. An array of size N is indexed by integers from 0 up to and including N−1. Here is a brief example:
However, C and C++ will use a linear indexing formula for multi-dimensional arrays that are declared with compile time constant size, e.g. by int A [10][20] or int A [m][n], instead of the traditional int ** A. [8] The C99 standard introduced Variable Length Array types that let define array types with dimensions computed in run time.
For a vector with linear addressing, the element with index i is located at the address B + c · i, where B is a fixed base address and c a fixed constant, sometimes called the address increment or stride. If the valid element indices begin at 0, the constant B is simply the address of the first element of the array.
c = a + b In addition to support for vectorized arithmetic and relational operations, these languages also vectorize common mathematical functions such as sine. For example, if x is an array, then y = sin (x) will result in an array y whose elements are sine of the corresponding elements of the array x. Vectorized index operations are also ...
C99 also allows variable length arrays that have the length specified at runtime, [2] although the feature is considered an optional implementation in later versions of the C standard. In such cases, the sizeof operator is evaluated in part at runtime to determine the storage occupied by the array.
C struct data types may end with a flexible array member [1] with no specified size: struct vectord { short len ; // there must be at least one other data member double arr []; // the flexible array member must be last // The compiler may reserve extra padding space here, like it can between struct members };
Naïve resizable arrays -- also called "the worst implementation" of resizable arrays -- keep the allocated size of the array exactly big enough for all the data it contains, perhaps by calling realloc for each and every item added to the array. Naïve resizable arrays are the simplest way of implementing a resizable array in C.