Records

Spec & Goals 3 min

AQA Spec 3.2.6 · Data structures (records)

By the end of this lesson you can:

1. Describe a record as a group of related fields that may be different data types.
2. Access a field with the record.field notation.
3. Store many records in an array of records and explain how it differs from an array.

Warm-Up 5 min

Last lesson you used an array to store many items of the same data type.

Quick starter

Could a single array store a pupil's name (text), age (number) and membership status (true/false) together? Why might that be awkward?

Key Concept — records and fields 14 min

A record groups related fields that may each be a different data type. Think of one row of a table.

A member record might look like this:

Accessing a field

You read or write one field with the record.field notation — for example member1.name gives the name field.

An array of records

To store many records — a whole table of data — you put them in an array of records. Each element is one record; each record holds several fields.

Worked Example — a Student record 12 min

Problem: define a Student record with the fields name, form and mark, store several students, and read one field.

AQA pseudo-code

RECORD Student
    name : String
    form : String
    mark : Integer
ENDRECORD

student1 ← Student("Aisyah", "5A", 72)
student2 ← Student("Hafiz", "5B", 65)

OUTPUT student1.name
OUTPUT student1.mark

The first OUTPUT reads the name field and the second reads the mark field of student1.

Storing many — an array of records

students ← [student1, student2]
OUTPUT students[1].form

Element 1 is student2, so this outputs 5B. The index picks the record; the dot picks the field.

The same idea in Python

# Python has no RECORD keyword; a dictionary (or class) is used
student1 = {"name": "Aisyah", "form": "5A", "mark": 72}
student2 = {"name": "Hafiz", "form": "5B", "mark": 65}

print(student1["name"])
students = [student1, student2]
print(students[1]["form"])

Note: Python uses dictionaries or classes to represent records — there is no RECORD keyword.

Try It Yourself 12 min

📝 Exam Practice 10 min

Answer the way the examiner expects — the command word and the marks tell you how much to write.

Recap & Key Terms 3 min

A record groups related fields that may be different data types, like one row of a table. You reach a field with record.field. Storing many records in an array of records builds a whole table — unlike a plain array, which holds one data type only.

Record

A data structure grouping related fields, which may be of different data types, under one name.

Field

A single named item of data inside a record, accessed with record.field.

Array of records

An array whose elements are records — used to store a table of related data.

Homework 1 min

Task (≤ 15 min): Define a RECORD called Pet with the fields name (String), species (String) and age (Integer). Then write the line that outputs the species of a pet record called pet1.

RECORD Pet
    name : String
    species : String
    age : Integer
ENDRECORD

OUTPUT pet1.species