FIT 100
© Copyright University of
Washington 1999-2000
Indexing, The Basic Idea
vMotivation: When there is a large number of similar things that must
be referenced and manipulated, it can be inconvenient to think up a unique
name for each, and to refer to them by the name
;For example: Each of the Seven Dwarfs
has a name, but who can remember them?
Also, it is difficult to refer to them in a loop
since there is no way to enumerate them
vIndexing names the
items by associating a base name and a number -- the index -- with each one
vComputer
notation: Dwarf(5) Û Happy
7 Dwarfs
Sneezy
Dopey
Sleepy
Grumpy
Happy
Doc
Bashful