The std::array container, introduced in C++11, provides a safer and more feature-rich alternative to traditional C-style arrays with out sacrificing performance. Unlike dynamic containers, std::array maintains a fixed size determined at compile time, preventing runtime resizing.

This container is defined as a class template in the <array> header within the std namespace:

namespace std {
    template <typename ElementType, size_t ArraySize>
    class array;
}

To use std::array, include the header and utilize the namespace:

#include <array>
using namespace std;

The template parameters specify the element type and container size, where ArraySize must be a constant expression. Here's how to create an array of 10 double-precision numbers:

std::array<double, 10> numberList;

This declaration creates uninitialized elements. To zero-initialize all elements:

std::array<double, 10> numberList{};

Explicit initialization supports partial element specification:

std::array<double, 10> numberList{0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0};

Unspecified elements default to zero. The container offers several member functions for element access and manipulation:

Functtion	Purpose
begin()	Returns iterator to first element
end()	Returns iterator to position after last element
size()	Returns number of elements (always equals ArraySize)
empty()	Checks if container is empty
at(pos)	Returns reference to element at pos with bounds checking
front()	Returns reference to first element
back()	Returns reference to last element
data()	Returns pointer to underlying array
swap(other)	Exchanges contents with another array of identical type and size

Global functions std::begin() and std::end() work with both containers and raw arrays. The std::get() function template provides indexed element access.

Example implementation:

#include <iostream>
#include <array>
using namespace std;

int main() {
    array<int, 4> data{};
    
    for (size_t index = 0; index < data.size(); ++index) {
        data.at(index) = index;
    }
    
    cout << get<3>(data) << endl;
    
    if (!data.empty()) {
        for (auto iterator = data.begin(); iterator != data.end(); ++iterator) {
            cout << *iterator << " ";
        }
    }
    return 0;
}

Output:

3
0 1 2 3