Microsoft 9GD00001 manual Applying Arrays and Generics, Coding Arrays, 107

Chapter 4: Learning Just Enough C# and VB.NET: Intermediate Syntax 107

Applying Arrays and Generics

Whatever code you write will typically need to group objects into a single collection of that object type. For this, you can use an array, which is a container that can have zero or many elements, each holding an instance of a particular type. You’ll soon see how to use an array to locate the elements (items) you want. There are also generic collection classes in the .NET Framework that are even more powerful than arrays. You’ll learn how to use both arrays and generic collections in this section.

Coding Arrays

You’ve already seen several examples of arrays being used previously in this chapter. You declare a variable of the array type, instantiate the array to a specified size, and then use the array by indexing into its elements. Listing 4-7 shows an example that demonstrates the mechanics of creating and using an array.

Listing 4-7 Creating and using an array

C#:

private void ArrayDemo()

{

double[] stats = new double[3];

stats[0] = 1.1; stats[1] = 2.2; stats[2] = 3.3;

double sum = 0;

for (int i = 0; i < stats.Length; i++)

{

sum += stats[i];

}

Console.WriteLine( stats[0] + " + " + stats[1] + " + " + stats[2] + " = " + sum);

}