C++ std::array: Zero-Overhead, Bounds-Checked Modern Containers

In legacy C, passing an array to a function causes it to decay into a raw pointer, completely losing its size information. Modern C++11 solved this design flaw by introducing std::array<T, N> in the <array> header.

std::array Example with Bounds Checking

#include <iostream>
#include <array>
#include <algorithm> // For std::sort

int main() {
    // Fixed size 5 on Stack, Knows its own size!
    std::array<int, 5> data = {40, 10, 50, 20, 30};

    std::cout << "Array size: " << data.size() << "\n";

    // STL Algorithm compatibility
    std::sort(data.begin(), data.end());

    std::cout << "Sorted: ";
    for (const auto& num : data) {
        std::cout << num << " ";
    }
    // Output: 10 20 30 40 50
    std::cout << "\n";

    // Safe bounds checking
    try {
        int invalid = data.at(10); // Out of bounds!
    } catch (const std::out_of_range& e) {
        std::cout << "Caught safe exception: " << e.what() << "\n";
    }

    return 0;
}