An array is not much more than a pointer and some space in memory. Primitive capabilities! There are many operations that would be nice to perform with arrays, but there are not built-in C++. With C++ classes, the programmer can develop an array ADT is preferable to 'raw' arrays. Although the language is easy to extend with these new types, the base language itself is not changeable.
- ADT array 
- Subscript range checking 
- Arbitrary range of subscripts; Instead of having to start with 0 
- Array assignment 
- Array comparison 
- Array input/output 
- Arrays that know their sizes 
- Arrays that expand dynamically to accommodate more elements 
 
2004-07-29