| Type ::= |
|---|
| … |
| Type '[' ']' |
Vectors are single-dimension arrays with a zero lower bound. They have direct support in CIL instructions (newarr, ldelem, stelem, and ldelema, see Partition III). The CIL Framework also provides methods that deal with multidimensional arrays and single-dimension arrays with a non-zero lower bound (§II.14.2). Two vectors have the same type if their element types are the same, regardless of their actual upper bounds.
Vectors have a fixed size and element type, determined when they are created. All CIL instructions shall respect these values. That is, they shall reliably detect attempts to do the following: index beyond the end of the vector, store the incorrect type of data into an element of a vector, and take the address of elements of a vector with an incorrect data type. See Partition III.
[Example: Declare a vector of Strings:
.field string[] errorStrings
Declare a vector of function pointers:
.field method instance void*(int32) [] myVec
Create a vector of 4 strings, and store it into the field errorStrings. The 4 strings lie at errorStrings[0] through errorStrings[3]:
ldc.i4.4
newarr string
stfld string[] CountDownForm::errorStrings
Store the string "First" into errorStrings[0]:
ldfld string[] CountDownForm::errorStrings
ldc.i4.0
ldstr "First"
stelem
end example]
Vectors are subtypes of System.Array, an abstract class pre-defined by the CLI. It provides several methods that can be applied to all vectors. See Partition IV.