Vector

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What Does Vector Mean?

A vector, in programming, is a type of array that is one dimensional. Vectors are a logical element in programming languages that are used for storing a sequence of data elements of the same basic type. Members of a vector are called components.

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The major difference between and array and a vector is that the container size of a vector can be easily increased and decreased to complement different data storage types.

Techopedia Explains Vector

Vectors are used in many programming languages as data structure containers. They have a dynamic structure and provide programmers with the ability to allocate container size and memory space quickly. In this sense, vectors can be thought of as dynamic arrays.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.