arrayen

Arrayen is a term used in computer science to denote a class of structured data types that generalize traditional arrays. An arrayen represents a collection of elements arranged in one or more dimensions and accessed by a coordinate tuple such as (i1, i2, ..., in). Arrayen can describe both regular grids, where each dimension has a fixed length, and irregular or jagged shapes, where subarrays may differ in length.

The name combines the word array with the -en suffix to signal a type or category. The concept is used in theoretical discussions and in some programming language designs as a flexible alternative to fixed-size matrices.

Key characteristics include support for multi-dimensional indexing, containment of elements of a uniform type, and, depending on the implementation, dynamic resizing or fixed capacity. Common operations include indexing, slicing, reshaping, concatenation, and basic element-wise calculations for numeric elements.

In practice, arrayen serves as a general abstraction for storing tabular or grid-like data. It is closely related to, yet distinct from, matrices, tensors, and jagged arrays, and it often appears in educational contexts to illustrate how data can be organized beyond regular arrays.

See also: array, matrix, tensor, jagged array, data structure.