Difference Between Linear Array And A Record

Record

Records are data structures that are used to store a collection of variables. These variable fields inside the record have names and values. Thus, a record is a type of container for these fields.

Consider the example of a student's information. The name fields for student record include name, age, gender, class, and address. The value to these fields can be Jack, 19, Male, 12, and Indore. Thus, a student record would store all these fields and values. These can be accessed as a single entity. Records help to represent complex data types.

Creating a Record

In some languages, they have built structures that can be used as a record. In other languages like Python, C++, C#, etc. We use class to create a record.

General SYNTAX for creating records:

record(record_name, {field1, field2, . . fieldn})  

In C++, records are created using class.

Code in C++

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

class student {
  public: string name;
  int age;
  int standard;
};

int main() {
  student person;
  person.name = "Kartik";
  person.age = 18;
  person.standard = 12;
  return 0;
}

You can also try this code with Online C++ Compiler

Run Code

Different Record Operations

Accessing the values of the record

Here is a C++ implementation of accessing the values of a record. In C++, records are created using class.

Code in C++

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

class student {
  public: string name;
  int age;
  int standard;
};

int main() {
  student person;
  person.name = "Kartik";
  person.age = 18;
  person.standard = 12;
  cout << "Student name: " << person.name << endl;
  cout << "Student age: " << person.age << endl;
  cout << "Student class: " << person.standard;
  return 0;
}

You can also try this code with Online C++ Compiler

Run Code

OUTPUT:

Student name: Kartik
Student age: 18
Student class: 12

Updating the values of the record

Here is a C++ implementation of updating the values of a record.

Code in C++

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

class student {
  public: string name;
  int age;
  int standard;
};

int main() {
  student person;
  person.name = "Kartik";
  person.age = 18;
  person.standard = 12;
  cout << "Student name: " << person.name << endl;
  cout << "Student age: " << person.age << endl;
  cout << "Student class: " << person.standard << endl;
  person.age = 15;
  person.standard = 9;
  cout << "Updates values " << endl;
  cout << "Student name: " << person.name << endl;
  cout << "Student age: " << person.age << endl;
  cout << "Student class: " << person.standard;
  return 0;
}

You can also try this code with Online C++ Compiler

Run Code

OUTPUT:

Student name: Kartik
Student age: 18
Student class: 12
Updates values 
Student name: Kartik
Student age: 15
Student class: 9

Must Read Array of Objects in Java

Difference Between Linear Array And A Record

Here is a table that tells what the difference between linear array and a record is, based on various parameters.

Also see,  Rabin Karp Algorithm

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the advantages of arrays?

It is easy to store elements in an array of the same data type. It helps in implementing stacks and queues. Using 2D arrays, we can conveniently represent matrices. Provides easy access to its elements.

What are the disadvantages of arrays?

The memory allocation is contiguous, so wastage of memory can occur. Prior knowledge of the array size is necessary to perform some array operations. Deletion and insertion of elements become tedious.

What is the default array value in JAVA?

JAVA assigns the default array value for int, short, byte, and long as 0. For float and double is 0.0. For boolean values, it is false and null for objects.

Conclusion

In this article, we learned about arrays and records. We discussed what the difference between linear array and a record is. We learned about the different operations that are supported by arrays and records.

To learn more about arrays and records, you can check out our other blogs

• Introduction to Array
• Arrays In Java
• Classes and Objects
• Yarn vs NPM

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