2.3.3.2. - Data Arrays
The second kind of array is the data array introduced in spec release 4.00. The data arrays store and manipulate their contents far more efficiently than associative arrays, and also use a far more intuitive syntax than the data group facility (described later) for which they are an alternative. For data arrays, the array index must be a number, and array elements are numbered consecutively starting at zero. Data arrays must be explicitly declared using the
array
keyword.
The data values of data-array elements are not currently saved in the
user's state file, unlike associative array elements and the contents
of data groups.