Book Image

Mastering the C++17 STL

By : Arthur O'Dwyer
Book Image

Mastering the C++17 STL

By: Arthur O'Dwyer

Overview of this book

Modern C++ has come a long way since 2011. The latest update, C++17, has just been ratified and several implementations are on the way. This book is your guide to the C++ standard library, including the very latest C++17 features. The book starts by exploring the C++ Standard Template Library in depth. You will learn the key differences between classical polymorphism and generic programming, the foundation of the STL. You will also learn how to use the various algorithms and containers in the STL to suit your programming needs. The next module delves into the tools of modern C++. Here you will learn about algebraic types such as std::optional, vocabulary types such as std::function, smart pointers, and synchronization primitives such as std::atomic and std::mutex. In the final module, you will learn about C++'s support for regular expressions and file I/O. By the end of the book you will be proficient in using the C++17 standard library to implement real programs, and you'll have gained a solid understanding of the library's own internals.
Table of Contents (13 chapters)

C++11 and algebraic types

As C++11 took shape, there was growing recognition that another area ripe for vocabularization was that of the so-called algebraic data types. Algebraic types arise naturally in the functional-programming paradigm. The essential idea is to think about the domain of a type--that is, the set of all possible values of that type. To keep things simple, you might want to think about C++ enum types, because it's easy to talk about the number of different values that an object of enum type might assume at one time or another:

    enum class Color {
RED = 1,
BLACK = 2,
};

enum class Size {
SMALL = 1,
MEDIUM = 2,
LARGE = 3,
};

Given the types Color and Size, can you create a data type whose instances might assume any of 2 × 3 = 6 values? Yes; this type represents "one of each" of Color and Size, and is called...