Did you know that using the Python programming language is way easier to create arrays for storing names?
Python is definitely one of the most advantageous programming languages to learn if you are an aspiring software developer. Regardless, we are here to discuss the concept of arrays in python and how you can make use of them.
Also, the one thing to note here is that you will have to use the python lists because python itself does not support arrays.
In this blog, we will also throw in some bonus questions related to zero sum subarrays and merging two sorted arrays.
What are arrays in Python?
The array can be defined as a structure that holds a limited number of elements given the fact that the elements are of the exact nature. They mainly use arrays to execute their algorithms.
If you are new to the study, you must start with learning about the following two terms in the case of an array:
- Element: These are basically every single component of an array that you have to sort while solving a problem.
- Index: In order to navigate the location of each and every single element the array follows a given index which makes the task a lot easier.
Let us take an example of an array to understand the concept of elements and index more definitively:
33 44 55 66 77 88 99 00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Arriving to conclusions from the given array:
- We can see here that the index of the above array extends till 7 which means that the array can only store 8 elements.
- The length of the above array is 8 starting from 0 which makes it capable of storing 8 elements in total.
- As we have discussed above in the definition of an index, it is basically used to navigate the exact location of an element in an array.
- For instance, in the case of the above array, we can say that the element “66” is located in the “3rd” index and so forth.
Now that we have figured out the basic terminologies of an array, let us take a look at some of the problems that are dealt with using the arrays.
Basic Operations
Here is the list of operations that are executed using an array:
- Update: As the term suggests you can update each element based on its given index.
- Search: In this function, you can search for any given element using its index location.
- Deletion: In this procedure, you can delete any required element by tracing its index location.
- Insertion: You can follow this procedure to add any required element in a given index.
- Traverse: This function allows you to print the elements one at a time by navigation through each index point.
This was the list of the basic operations that you can carry out using an array. For an additional piece of information, you can note that, while using the Python language you can create an array by transferring the array module into the program.
How to use arrays in Python?
Now, we will head to the execution part of the problem related to the arrays. There are certain probable approaches that you can use.
It is definitely clear by now that you can access any given element in an array using its index location. The following approaches will guide you through the process of executing that function.
- Insertion operation
This approach talks about adding an extra element in one or more index locations in an array. Based on your requirement you can add any given element at the end or the beginning of an array.
- Deletion operation
Python offers an in-built remove() operation which can be used to remove any required element from the array. After doing so the programmer has the liberty to rearrange the whole array or the data structure.
- Search operation
Python also offers an in-built index() operation which you can run in order to find the location of any required element in the array from its index location.
This is what is referred to as the Search operation.
- Update operation
If you are following this approach then you will be required to update or change the value of a required element.
This can be executed by adding a newer value to an already existing index.
Now that you are clear about how to use the arrays in Python, let us now discuss how you can solve zero sum subarrays -related problems.
Zero sum subarray
When you are tackling the problems related to zero sum subarrays you can consider each subarray one at a time and figure out if the solution to each is equal to 0 or not.
You can use the Hashing approach, for this method you have to figure out if the sum of the subarray is 0 or not. Further, you have to check whether this sum is present in the hash table.
This will help you sort the problems related to the zero sum subarrays. Now moving on to the last portion of the blog, we will briefly discuss how to merge two sorted arrays.
Merging two sorted arrays
For Merging two sorted arrays, you have to implement the merge sort algorithm. This is one of the lengthiest algorithms that are available but it certainly makes it easier to solve the problem at hand.
The algorithm states that you have to divide the problem into equal sub-problems and figure out the solution to each. Afterward, we combine the solutions to find the final output for the problem.
Conclusion
There we have it, the brief introduction of how to use arrays in Python might have sorted out a few of your doubts related to this concept. Other than that you will also find brief discussions about solving problems related to zero sum subarrays and merging two sorted arrays.
