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Copyright © 2001-2004 Nicolai M. Josuttis
Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.
      (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at 
      http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)
      
Table of Contents
The C++ Standard Template Library STL as part of the C++ Standard Library provides a framework for processing algorithms on different kind of containers. However, ordinary arrays don't provide the interface of STL containers (although, they provide the iterator interface of STL containers).
As replacement for ordinary arrays, the STL provides class
    std::vector.  However,
    std::vector<> provides
    the semantics of dynamic arrays. Thus, it manages data to be able
    to change the number of elements. This results in some overhead in
    case only arrays with static size are needed.
In his book, Generic Programming and the
    STL, Matthew H. Austern introduces a useful wrapper
    class for ordinary arrays with static size, called
    block.  It is safer and has no worse performance than
    ordinary arrays. In The C++ Programming
    Language, 3rd edition, Bjarne Stroustrup introduces a
    similar class, called c_array, which I (Nicolai Josuttis) present
    slightly modified in my book The C++ Standard Library -
    A Tutorial and Reference, called
    carray. This is the essence of these approaches
    spiced with many feedback from boost.
After considering different names, we decided to name this
    class simply array.
Note that this class is suggested to be part of the next Technical Report, which will extend the C++ Standard (see http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2003/n1548.htm).
Update: std::array is (as of C++11) part of the C++ standard.
    The differences between boost::array and std::array are minimal.
    If you are using C++11, you should consider using std::array instead of boost::array.
    
Class array fulfills most
    but not all of the requirements of "reversible containers" (see
    Section 23.1, [lib.container.requirements] of the C++
    Standard). The reasons array is not an reversible STL container is
    because:
      
swap() has no constant complexity.size() is always constant, based on the second template argument of the type.
It doesn't fulfill the requirements of a "sequence" (see Section 23.1.1, [lib.sequence.reqmts] of the C++ Standard), except that:
front() and back() are provided.operator[] and at() are provided.