Editing Array slicing (section)

===1994: [[Analytica (software)|Analytica]]===
Each dimension of an array value in Analytica is identified by an Index variable. When slicing or subscripting, the syntax identifies the dimension(s) over which you are slicing or subscripting by naming the dimension. Such as:

<syntaxhighlight lang="pascal">
Index I := 1..5   { Definition of a numerical Index }
Index J := ['A', 'B', 'C'] { Definition of a text-valued Index }
Variable X := Array(I, J, [[10, 20, 30], [1, 2, 3], ....]) { Definition of a 2D value }
X[I = 1, J = 'B']  -> 20  { Subscript to obtain a single value }
X[I = 1] ->  Array(J, [10, 20, 30])  { Slice out a 1D array. }
X[J = 2] -> Array(I, [20, 2, ....]) { Slice out a 1D array over the other dimension. }
X[I = 1..3]  {Slice out first four elements over I with all elements over J}
</syntaxhighlight>

Naming indexes in slicing and subscripting is similar to naming parameters in function calls instead of relying on a fixed sequence of parameters. One advantage of naming indexes in slicing is that the programmer does not have to remember the sequence of Indexes, in a multidimensional array. A deeper advantage is that expressions generalize automatically and safely without requiring a rewrite when the number of dimensions of X changes.