Zig Arrays

Introduction to Zig Arrays

Zig arrays are a fundamental data structure in the Zig programming language. They are fixed-length sequences, meaning their size is determined at compile time and cannot be changed during runtime. Arrays in Zig are strongly typed, and each element of the array must be of the same type. This feature ensures type safety and can often lead to optimized performance.

Declaring Arrays in Zig

Declaring an array in Zig is straightforward. You specify the type of the array elements and the number of elements it will contain. Here's a basic example:

In this example, arr is an array of unsigned 32-bit integers with a length of 5. The array is initialized with the values 1 through 5.

Accessing Array Elements

Array elements in Zig can be accessed using zero-based indexing. This means that the first element of the array is accessed with index 0, the second with index 1, and so on. Here's how you can access and modify array elements:

Array Bounds Safety

Zig provides safety mechanisms to prevent out-of-bounds access, which is a common source of bugs in many programming languages. By default, accessing an index outside the bounds of an array will cause a runtime panic in safe mode. This can be especially helpful during development to catch errors early.

Iterating Over Arrays

Iterating over arrays in Zig can be accomplished using a for loop. This is useful for processing or modifying each element in the array:

Conclusion

Zig arrays are powerful tools for managing fixed-size collections of data. By understanding how to declare, access, and manipulate arrays, you can leverage their full potential for efficient and safe data handling in your Zig applications. In the next post, we'll explore slices, which provide more flexibility for dynamic data structures.