Parallel Arrays in AP CSA

Parallel arrays are two or more arrays of the same length where corresponding indices represent related data. Index 0 in array A goes with index 0 in array B, and so on.

Structure

String[] names  = {"Alice", "Bob", "Carol", "Dave"};
int[]    scores = {92, 78, 85, 91};

// names[0] = "Alice" and scores[0] = 92 are related
// names[1] = "Bob"   and scores[1] = 78 are related

Common Operations

// Print all name-score pairs
for (int i = 0; i < names.length; i++) {
    System.out.println(names[i] + ": " + scores[i]);
}

// Find the name with the highest score
int maxIdx = 0;
for (int i = 1; i < scores.length; i++) {
    if (scores[i] > scores[maxIdx]) {
        maxIdx = i;
    }
}
System.out.println("Top scorer: " + names[maxIdx]);