Array consisting of the values inside of another array

In what is hopefully obvious, your sub-array is literally nothing more than a "block" of data (with some interesting partitioning) within your main array. Assuming you are checking your boundaries and will NOT allow an out of bounds condition to happen, you can simulate your sub-array using pointer math and some basic info about your main array.

• The block will always be some [row][column] offset from the [0][0] location, so we need those values (row and column).
• The block has fixed width such that column+width does not exceed your main array width. We need that width.
• The block has fixed height such that row+height does not exceed your main array height. We need that height.
• I hope it obvious we need the base address that is the main array (in your case map).

This is probably best demonstrated by example. The following is NOT some end-all solution. It will likely not even address 1/10th of the need you're going to have. Rather, it is intended to offer you an idea on how you can do this using only a pointer, some offsets, some sizes, and a little arithmetic to get what you're looking for. There is nothing stopping you from exceeding limits that may be harmful (just like a plain array), so be cautious.

// internal rerefential to a submatrix in a larger fixed matrix.
template<typename T>
class Sub2D
{
public:
    template<size_t R, size_t C>
    Sub2D(T(&ar)[R][C], int top, int left, int height, int width)
    : parent(ar[0])
    , row(top)
    , col(left)
    , max_row(R)
    , max_col(C)
    {
        if ((row+width) >= R || (col+height) >= C)
            throw std::out_of_range("");
    }

    // retrieve our subrow offset into the main 2D array
    T* operator [](size_t n)
    {
        // enable at your desire, but as Alex pointed out, all
        // the standard containers let you shoot yourself in the
        // foot with this operator. why not this one too =P
        //if (row+n >= max_row)
        //    throw std::out_of_range("");

        return parent + ((row+n)*max_col + col);
    }

private:
    T* parent;
    size_t row, col;
    size_t max_row, max_col;
};

Used like this, assuming your array in your question is the one we're basing:

int main()
{
    // take the submatrix & [6][7] that is 7x7 in dimension.
    Sub2D<int> sub(map, 6,7, 7,7);
    for (size_t i=0;i<7;++i)
    {
        for (size_t j=0;j<7;++j)
            cout << sub[i][j] << ' ';
        cout << endl;
    }
    cout << endl;

    // update an element at location [1][1] of our sub-matrix.
    sub[1][1] = 9;

    // reprint the *entire* main array. it better have updated.
    for (size_t i=0;i<sizeof(map)/sizeof(map[0]);++i)
    {
        for (size_t j=0;j<sizeof(map[0])/sizeof(map[0][0]);++j)
            cout << map[i][j] << ' ';
        cout << endl;
    }
    cout << endl;

    return 0;
}

Produces the following output.

2 2 1 1 1 1 1 
1 0 0 0 0 0 1 
1 0 0 0 0 0 1 
1 0 0 0 0 0 1 
1 0 0 0 0 0 1 
1 0 0 0 0 0 1 
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 9 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 

Note the 9 now sitting right where we expect it.

There is obviously a LOT more you can add to such a template class, including better range checking, moving your pointer, snap-shotting into other memory buffers, etc, but the point is for basic get-me-this sub matrix a pointer and a few offsets are hard to beat, especially for performance.

Have a read of Boost's uBLAS module. It provides Matrix and MatrixRange classes, which are exactly what you are looking for.

In essence, the zoomedMap should just be an intelligent pointer into the larger matrix, which understands how to dereference and get the correct result.

Depending on your requirements, this may suffice:

int (*zoomedMap)[28] = reinterpret_cast<int (*)[28]>(&map[X][Y]);

This gives you an identifier you can use as if it were a two-dimensional array: zoomedMap[i][j]. You can easily move the zoomed map within the larger array by assigning a new address to it.

It depends on your C++ implementation allowing a pointer to float to be cast to a pointer to an array of float, provided all references remain within the original array. This is common.

It leaves zoomedMap pointing to the same memory as map. Thus, you cannot change one without changing the other. If you want to do that, you would need to make a copy.