arrays in C vs arrays in PHP

[johnmerlino1]

Arrays in C are fixed length:

#define MAX_SIZE 5

int main(void){
  int n[ 5 ]; 
  for(int i=0;i<MAX_SIZE;i++){
    n[i]=i;
  }
  return 1;
}

If I try to insert an eleement into the array, it will result in undefined behavior.

 

Java compensates for this by creating an actual object class called ArrayList or LinkedList, the former an internal store of array elements that dynamically resizes and the latter just a node tree with pointers to next and previous elements.

ArrayList<Integer> arr = new ArrayList<Integer>();
arr.add(1);
arr.add(2);

It seens that the array() construct in PHP is not a function or a class but an internal construct. How does it dynamically resize arrays?

[CroNiX]

There are no constraints on arrays in php. If you add and element to an array it just adds the element to the end of the array, unless you specify the index.

[bsmither]

I would say array() is a 'language construct' and may best be thought of as a stack.

Edited July 28, 2014 by bsmither

[trq]

Who cares?