Arrays and Records

An array is a data structure that stores multiple values of the same data type under a single identifier. Each value is accessed by its index — an integer indicating its position in the array.

Without an array, storing five test scores requires five separate variables:

score0 ← 72
score1 ← 85
score2 ← 63
score3 ← 91
score4 ← 78

Processing all five then requires five separate lines of code. With an array, a loop handles any number of elements:

scores ← [72, 85, 63, 91, 78]
FOR i ← 0 TO 4
    OUTPUT scores[i]
NEXT i

Property	Detail
Same data type	All elements must be the same type — an integer array cannot hold strings
Fixed size	The number of elements is determined when the array is declared
Zero-based indexing	The first element is at index 0; a 5-element array uses indices 0 to 4
Random access	Any element can be read or written directly using its index

In AQA pseudocode, scores[0] accesses the first element, scores[4] the fifth. An array with n elements has valid indices 0 to n − 1. Accessing an index outside this range is an out-of-bounds error.

A one-dimensional (1D) array is a flat, ordered list of values.

Declaration and element access:

days ← ["Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat", "Sun"]

OUTPUT days[0]        # Mon
OUTPUT days[3]        # Thu
days[5] ← "Weekend"  # overwrite "Sat"
OUTPUT days[5]        # Weekend

days = ["Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat", "Sun"]
print(days[0])        # Mon
days[5] = "Weekend"
print(days[5])        # Weekend

Worked example — Store five temperatures and find the one at a user-specified index:

temps ← [12.5, 15.0, 9.3, 18.7, 14.1]
OUTPUT "Enter an index (0–4): "
idx ← USERINPUT
OUTPUT "Temperature: " & STR(temps[idx])

Worked example — Store exam grades and count how many are 'A':

grades ← ["B", "A", "C", "A", "A", "B"]
count ← 0
FOR i ← 0 TO 5
    IF grades[i] = "A" THEN
        count ← count + 1
    ENDIF
NEXT i
OUTPUT count    # 3

Traversal means visiting every element in an array in sequence, typically using a FOR loop where the loop variable serves as the index.

Worked example — Calculate the total and average of an array of scores:

scores ← [72, 85, 63, 91, 78]
total ← 0
FOR i ← 0 TO 4
    total ← total + scores[i]
NEXT i
average ← total / 5
OUTPUT "Total: " & STR(total)
OUTPUT "Average: " & STR(average)

total is an accumulator — initialised to 0 before the loop, then incremented each iteration. This pattern appears in nearly every array-processing exam question.

Worked example — Find the maximum value in an array:

scores ← [72, 85, 63, 91, 78]
maximum ← scores[0]          # start by assuming the first is largest
FOR i ← 1 TO 4               # compare the rest
    IF scores[i] > maximum THEN
        maximum ← scores[i]
    ENDIF
NEXT i
OUTPUT maximum    # 91

Start the maximum at scores[0] (not at 0 or a guessed value). Update whenever a larger value is found. The same pattern finds the minimum by reversing the comparison to <.

Always use TO length − 1 as the upper bound (or the last valid index explicitly). For a 5-element array this is TO 4. Writing TO 5 reads index 5 — a position that does not exist.

A two-dimensional (2D) array is a grid of values organised into rows and columns. Two indices are required: array[row][column].

grid ← [[1, 2, 3],
         [4, 5, 6],
         [7, 8, 9]]

OUTPUT grid[0][0]    # 1  (row 0, column 0)
OUTPUT grid[1][2]    # 6  (row 1, column 2)
OUTPUT grid[2][0]    # 7  (row 2, column 0)

Worked example — Store and display marks for 3 students across 2 papers:

marks ← [[72, 85],
          [63, 91],
          [78, 80]]

FOR row ← 0 TO 2
    FOR col ← 0 TO 1
        OUTPUT marks[row][col]
    NEXT col
NEXT row

Output order: 72, 85, 63, 91, 78, 80. The inner loop completes one full pass for each iteration of the outer loop — a 3×2 grid produces 6 outputs.

Worked example — Calculate the total marks for each student (row totals):

FOR row ← 0 TO 2
    rowTotal ← 0
    FOR col ← 0 TO 1
        rowTotal ← rowTotal + marks[row][col]
    NEXT col
    OUTPUT "Student " & STR(row + 1) & " total: " & STR(rowTotal)
NEXT row

Use a 2D array whenever data forms a natural grid: a seating plan, a game board, a timetable, or exam marks across multiple subjects.

A record is a data structure that groups related values which may have different data types under a single identifier. Each value is a field, accessed by name rather than index.

RECORD Student
    name      : STRING
    age       : INTEGER
    grade     : CHARACTER
    score     : REAL
ENDRECORD

pupil1.name  ← "Alice"
pupil1.age   ← 16
pupil1.grade ← 'A'
pupil1.score ← 87.5

OUTPUT pupil1.name & " achieved grade " & pupil1.grade

# Python represents records as dictionaries or objects
pupil1 = {"name": "Alice", "age": 16, "grade": "A", "score": 87.5}
print(pupil1["name"] + " achieved grade " + pupil1["grade"])

Array vs Record — key distinction:

Feature	Array	Record
Element types	All the same type	Fields can be different types
Access method	By integer index: arr[i]	By field name: record.field
Represents	A collection of similar items	One entity with multiple attributes
Example	30 student scores	One student's name, age, grade, score

Arrays of records combine both: a 1D array where each element is a record. This is how a class register or product catalogue is naturally represented — a list of entities, each with multiple attributes of different types.

Two algorithms appear repeatedly in array exam questions:

Swapping two elements — requires a temporary variable to avoid overwriting:

# Swap scores[0] and scores[1]
temp      ← scores[0]
scores[0] ← scores[1]
scores[1] ← temp

Without temp, the first assignment scores[0] ← scores[1] overwrites the original scores[0] before it has been saved. The value is permanently lost.

Linear search — find the index of a target value:

target ← 91
found  ← FALSE
FOR i ← 0 TO 4
    IF scores[i] = target THEN
        OUTPUT "Found at index " & STR(i)
        found ← TRUE
    ENDIF
NEXT i
IF NOT found THEN
    OUTPUT "Value not in array"
ENDIF

The found flag is initialised to FALSE before the loop and set to TRUE when the target is located. Checking found after the loop handles the case where the value is absent. (For a full comparison of linear and binary search, see the Searching Algorithms lesson.)

The swap, find-maximum, accumulate-total, and linear-search patterns cover the vast majority of array manipulation marks in AQA exam questions. Practise writing each one from memory.

1. Using 1-based instead of 0-based indexing

AQA pseudocode uses 0-based indexing. A 5-element array has valid indices 0–4. Writing FOR i ← 1 TO 5 misses index 0 and attempts to access index 5, which does not exist.

2. Forgetting the temporary variable in a swap

scores[0] ← scores[1] then scores[1] ← scores[0] copies the same value into both elements. scores[0]'s original value is gone. Always save to temp first.

3. Initialising the maximum to 0

maximum ← 0 works only when all array values are positive. If any value could be negative or zero, the maximum is initialised incorrectly. Always set maximum ← array[0] and begin comparisons from index 1.

4. Confusing arrays and records

An array holds many values of the same type; a record holds fields of different types for one entity. Storing a student's name (string), age (integer), and score (real) together requires a record, not an array.

5. Out-of-bounds access in traversal

For a 5-element array (indices 0–4), FOR i ← 0 TO 4 is correct. FOR i ← 0 TO 5 or FOR i ← 0 TO LEN(scores) without subtracting 1 reads one position past the end of the array.