Ruby arrays are like flexible containers that hold collections of items—think of them as magical baskets that can carry anything from numbers to strings to other arrays 🧺✨

🧱 Creating an Array

You can create an array using square brackets:

fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

Or with the Array.new method:

numbers = Array.new(3, 0)  # [0, 0, 0]

Ruby arrays can hold mixed types:

mixed = [42, "hello", true]

🔍 Accessing Elements

Ruby arrays are zero-indexed, meaning the first item is at index 0:

puts fruits[0]  # "apple"
puts fruits[-1] # "cherry" (last item)

You can also use ranges and slices:

puts fruits[1..2]  # ["banana", "cherry"]

🛠️ Common Array Methods

Example:

fruits.each do |fruit|
  puts "I love #{fruit}!"
end

🧬 Nested Arrays

Arrays can contain other arrays:

matrix = [[1, 2], [3, 4]]
puts matrix[0][1]  # Output: 2

🧠 Bonus: Word Arrays

Ruby has a shortcut for arrays of strings:

days = %w[Monday Tuesday Wednesday]

Same as:

days = ["Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday"]