Data Structures (BCA) 3rd Sem Previous Year Solved Question Paper 2022

Multidimensional arrays are typically represented in memory as contiguous blocks of data. The exact representation can vary depending on the programming language and the memory layout. Two common approaches are row-major order and column-major order.

1. Row-Major Order:

   • In row-major order, elements of a 2D array are stored row by row.

   • For example, in a 3x3 array:

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

1.  

   • The elements are stored in memory as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

   • This is the approach used in languages like C and C++ for 2D arrays.

2. Column-Major Order:

   • In column-major order, elements are stored column by column.

   • Using the same example, the elements would be stored as 1, 4, 7, 2, 5, 8, 3, 6, 9.

   • This is the approach used in languages like Fortran for 2D arrays.

The choice of representation can have performance implications, especially for large arrays and when iterating through them. It's essential to be consistent with the memory layout when working with multidimensional arrays to ensure efficient data access. Some programming languages and libraries provide functions for converting between these representations when needed.