Difference Between Array And ArrayList In C#

In this article, we will learn Difference Between Array And ArrayList.

Array :

Arrays are strongly-typed collections of the same data type and have a fixed length that cannot be changed during runtime. We can access the Array elements by numeric index. The array indexes start at zero. The default value of numeric array elements is set to zero, and the reference elements are set to null.

Example of Array :

// creating array 
int[] arr = new int[4]; 
  
// initializing array 
arr[0] = 47; 
arr[1] = 77; 
arr[2] = 87; 
arr[3] = 97; 

// traversing array 
for (int i = 0; i < arr.Length; i++) 
{ 
   Console.WriteLine(arr[i]);
}

ArrayList :

Array list is not a strongly-typed collection. It can store the values of different data types or same datatype. The size of an array list increases or decreases dynamically so it can take any size of values from any data type. ArrayList is one of the most flexible data structures from C# Collections. ArrayList contains a simple list of values. ArrayList implements the IList interface using an array and very easily we can add, insert, delete, view etc.

Example of ArrayList:

// Create a list of strings 
ArrayList al = new ArrayList(); 
al.Add("Dhruv"); 
al.Add("Pole"); 
al.Add(50); 
al.Add(10.68); 
  
// Iterate list element using foreach loop 
foreach(var names in al) 
{ 
    Console.WriteLine(names); 
}

Difference Between Array and ArrayList