Multi-dimensional Arrays

• tables of data
• matrices

Use a multi-dimensional array to represent such information

• items indexed by several subscripts
• eg row and column for 2D arrays

You can have as many dimensions as wanted

• extend declaration to include required index ranges
• extend references to include required indices

    -- type declaration for higher dimensional arrays
    type CUBE6 is array (1..6, 1..6, 1..6) of CHARACTER;

    -- variable declaration for higher dimensional arrays
    tictactoe_3d : CUBE6;

    -- reference to element in multi-dimensional array
    PUT(tictactoe_3d(2,3,4));

Ada does not limit the number of dimensions. In practice, though, the limit is 3 or 4 dimensions

• humans have trouble visualising more than 3D
• more subscripts often means more errors
• more dimensions means lots of memory

By far the most common multi-dimensional arrays are two dimensional arrays.