Array Deletion at Beginning in DSA C - Build from Scratch

Array Deletion at Beginning

📖 Scenario: You have a list of daily temperatures recorded in an array. Each day, the oldest temperature reading is removed to make space for the newest reading.

🎯 Goal: Build a program that deletes the first element from an array by shifting all other elements one position to the left.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create an integer array called temps with these exact values: 30, 32, 31, 29, 35

Create an integer variable called size and set it to 5

Write a loop that shifts all elements in temps one position to the left, effectively deleting the first element

Decrease size by 1 after deletion

Print the array elements separated by spaces after deletion

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Managing data streams where old data is removed to make space for new data, like sensor readings or logs.

💼 Career

Understanding array manipulation is fundamental for software development, embedded systems, and performance-critical applications.

1

Create the initial array

Create an integer array called temps with these exact values: 30, 32, 31, 29, 35

DSA C

// Your code here

Hint

Use curly braces to list the values inside the array.

2

Set the size variable

Create an integer variable called size and set it to 5

DSA C

int temps[5] = {30, 32, 31, 29, 35};
// Your code here

Hint

Use int size = 5; to store the number of elements.

3

Shift elements to delete the first element

Write a for loop with variable i from 0 to size - 2 that assigns temps[i] = temps[i + 1]. Then decrease size by 1

DSA C

int temps[5] = {30, 32, 31, 29, 35};
int size = 5;
// Your code here

Hint

Use a loop to move each element one step left, then reduce the size.

4

Print the array after deletion

Use a for loop with variable i from 0 to size - 1 to print each element of temps followed by a space

DSA C

int temps[5] = {30, 32, 31, 29, 35};
int size = 5;
for (int i = 0; i < size - 1; i++) {
    temps[i] = temps[i + 1];
}
size = size - 1;
// Your code here

Hint

Use printf("%d ", temps[i]); inside the loop to print elements separated by spaces.