Question

We have the code:

int arr[3][4];

So arr is:

1. An array of 3 elements, and every element is an array of 4 int.

2. An array of 4 elements, and every element is an array of 3 int.

which one is right and why? How does it work with higher dimensional array? I suppose this is concerning operator precedence and associativity.

Answer 1

Your first interpretation is correct.

Such declarations are best parsed using the Right Left rule, which you can read here and here

$8.3.4 from the C++ draft Standard:
…

Example: consider int x[3][5]; Here x is a 3 × 5 array of integers.

…

Note: It follows from all this that arrays in C++ are stored row-wise
(last subscript varies fastest) and that the first subscript in the
declaration helps determine the amount of storage consumed by an array
but plays no other part in subscript calculations. —end note ]

Note C++ does not have operator[][]. It has only operator[]