Book Image

Mastering C++ Programming

By : Jeganathan Swaminathan
Book Image

Mastering C++ Programming

By: Jeganathan Swaminathan

Overview of this book

C++ ? ?has ? ?come ? ?a ? ?long ? ?way ? ?and ? ?has ? ?now ? ?been ? ?adopted ? ?in ? ?several ? ?contexts. Its ? ?key ? ?strengths ? ?are ? ?its ? ?software ? ?infrastructure ? ?and ? ?resource-constrained applications. ? ?The ?C++ ? ?17 ? ?release ? ?will ? ?change ? ?the ? ?way ? ?developers ? ?write code, ? ?and ? ?this ? ?book ? ?will ? ?help ?you ? ?master ? ?your ? ?developing ? ?skills ? ?with ? ?C++. With ? ?real-world, ? ?practical ? ?examples ? ?explaining ? ?each ? ?concept, ? ?the ? ?book ? ?will begin ? ?by ? ?introducing ? ?you ? ?to ? ?the ? ?latest ? ?features ? ?in ? ?C++ ? ?17. ? ?It ? ?encourages clean ? ?code ? ?practices ? ?in ? ?C++ ? ?in ? ?general, ? ?and ? ?demonstrates ? ?the ? ?GUI app-development ? ?options ? ?in ? ?C++. ? ?You’ll ? ?get ? ?tips ? ?on ? ?avoiding ? ?memory ? ?leaks using ? ?smart-pointers. ? ?Next, ? ?you’ll ? ?see ? ?how ? ?multi-threaded ?programming can ? ?help ? ?you ? ?achieve ? ?concurrency ? ?in ? ?your ? ?applications. Moving ? ?on, ? ?you’ll ? ?get ? ?an ? ?in-depth ? ?understanding ? ?of ? ?the ? ?C++ ? ?Standard Template ? ?Library. ? ?We ? ?show ? ?you ? ?the ? ?concepts ? ?of ? ?implementing ? ?TDD ? ?and BDD ? ?in ? ?your ? ?C++ ? ?programs, ? ?and ? ?explore ? ?template-based ? ?generic programming, ? ?giving ? ?you ? ?the ? ?expertise ? ?to ? ?build ? ?powerful ? ?applications. Finally, ? ?we’ll ? ?round ? ?up ? ?with ? ?debugging ? ?techniques ? ?and ? ?best ? ?practices.By ? ?the ? ?end ? ?of ? ?the ? ?book, ? ?you’ll ? ?have ? ?an ? ?in-depth ? ?understanding ? ?of ? ?the language ? ?and ? ?its ? ?various ? ?facets.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Title Page
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Dedication
Preface

Container adapters


Container adapters adapt existing containers to provide new containers. In simple terms, STL extension is done with composition instead of inheritance.

STL containers can't be extended by inheritance, as their constructors aren't virtual. Throughout the STL, you can observe that while static polymorphism is used both in terms of operator overloading and templates, dynamic polymorphism is consciously avoided for performance reasons. Hence, extending the STL by subclassing the existing containers isn't a good idea, as it would lead to memory leaks because container classes aren't designed to behave like base classes.

The STL supports the following container adapters:

  • Stack
  • Queue
  • Priority Queue

Let's explore the container adapters in the following subsections.

Stack

Stack is not a new container; it is a template adapter class. The adapter containers wrap an existing container and provide high-level functionalities. The stack adapter container offers stack operations while hiding...