2D Array

2D Arrays

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Represent collections of related primitive or object reference data using two-dimensional (2D) array objects.

ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE

2D arrays are stored as arrays of arrays. Therefore, the way 2D arrays are created and indexed is similar to 1D array objects.
For the purposes of the exam, when accessing the element at arr[first][second], the first index is used for rows, the second index is used for columns.
The initializer list used to create and initialize a 2D array consists of initializer lists that represent 1D arrays.
The square brackets [row][col] are used to access and modify an element in a 2D array.
“Row-major order” refers to an ordering of 2D array elements where traversal occurs across each row, while “column-major order” traversal occurs down each column.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

For 2D array objects:

ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE

Nested iteration statements are used to traverse and access all elements in a 2D array. Since 2D arrays are stored as arrays of arrays, the way 2D arrays are traversed using for loops and enhanced for loops is similar to 1D array objects.
Nested iteration statements can be written to traverse the 2D array in “row-major order” or “column-major order.”
The outer loop of a nested enhanced for loop used to traverse a 2D array traverses the rows. Therefore, the enhanced for loop variable must be the type of each row, which is a 1D array. The inner loop traverses a single row. Therefore, the inner enhanced for loop variable must be the same type as the elements stored in the 1D array.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

For algorithms in the context of a particular specification that requires the use of 2D array traversals:

ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE

When applying sequential/linear search algorithms to 2D arrays, each row must be accessed then sequential/linear search applied to each row of a 2D array.
All standard 1D array algorithms can be applied to 2D array objects.