An array is a fundamental data structure in programming that stores a collection of elements, typically of the same type, in a contiguous block of memory. It provides a way to efficiently access and manipulate a group of items. Key Characteristics of Arrays: Ordered Collection: Arrays maintain the order of elements based on their indices, starting from 0 for the first element. Fixed Size: In many programming languages, arrays have a fixed size, meaning you must specify the number of elements it