Arrays

An array is a group of elements of the same type that have a common name.
An array is a collection of elements that use the same name but are distinguished by an index value.
Arrays contain a sequence of variables.
An array variable is a collection of variables that use the same name, but are distinguished by an index value.
The individual items within an array are called elements.
The numerical value used to access individual elements is called the index.

Reasons for using an Array above a Collection

There are several reasons for using an array over a Collection or a Scripting Dictionary.
*) It is a lot easier to sort an array
*) The entire contents of the array can be viewed in the Watch window.
If you are just saving objects you probably don't care about the order.
Since a Collection or Scripting Dictionary object resize automatically you don't have to keep track or ever resize.

Different Types of Arrays

There are several different types of arrays:
Fixed Size - These remain the same size.
Dynamic Size The size of these can change at run-time by using the ReDim statement.

Matrices and Vectors

These are fixed size arrays which can be used to represent rectangular blocks of values or numbers.
Arrays with one dimension are called Vectors.
Arrays with two dimensions are called Matrices.

Important

The upper and lower bounds of an array cannot exceed the range of a long data type (2,147,483,648).
A variant array is simply an array of elements associated to a variable whose data type is Variant.
You can actually define arrays with up to 60 dimensions, although most people only need 2 or 3.
You should always include parentheses when referring to an array. You don't have to include the parentheses when you refer to an array variable, except when you declare it, resize it or refer to an individual element but it helps make your code more readable.
Always specify both the lower and upper bound of an array "Dim myArray(1 To 10) As String".
If you don't include a lower bound when declaring the size, it is determined by the Option Base setting in the module.