Book Image

Data Structures and Algorithms with the C++ STL

By : John Farrier
5 (2)
Book Image

Data Structures and Algorithms with the C++ STL

5 (2)
By: John Farrier

Overview of this book

While the Standard Template Library (STL) offers a rich set of tools for data structures and algorithms, navigating its intricacies can be daunting for intermediate C++ developers without expert guidance. This book offers a thorough exploration of the STL’s components, covering fundamental data structures, advanced algorithms, and concurrency features. Starting with an in-depth analysis of the std::vector, this book highlights its pivotal role in the STL, progressing toward building your proficiency in utilizing vectors, managing memory, and leveraging iterators. The book then advances to STL’s data structures, including sequence containers, associative containers, and unordered containers, simplifying the concepts of container adaptors and views to enhance your knowledge of modern STL programming. Shifting the focus to STL algorithms, you’ll get to grips with sorting, searching, and transformations and develop the skills to implement and modify algorithms with best practices. Advanced sections cover extending the STL with custom types and algorithms, as well as concurrency features, exception safety, and parallel algorithms. By the end of this book, you’ll have transformed into a proficient STL practitioner ready to tackle real-world challenges and build efficient and scalable C++ applications.
Table of Contents (30 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Part 1: Mastering std::vector
7
Part 2: Understanding STL Data Structures
13
Part 3: Mastering STL Algorithms
19
Part 4: Creating STL-Compatible Types and Algorithms
23
Part 5: STL Data Structures and Algorithms: Under the Hood

Introduction to ranges

Programming paradigms evolve, and C++ is no exception. As the journey through the vast landscape of the C++ Standard Template Library (STL) unfolds, it is evident that adaptability and growth have been at their core. One such evolutionary step, which stands out for its expressiveness and efficiency, is the advent of ranges in modern C++. But what exactly are ranges?

Understanding the essence of ranges

Ranges, in the simplest of terms, are an abstraction over sequences of values. Unlike traditional iterators, which typically require pairs of begin and end to define a sequence, ranges encapsulate this information within a unified entity. This seemingly subtle shift has profound implications, reshaping how we approach algorithms and data manipulations.

At a glance, the following shows the verbose legacy way to sort a vector:

std::sort(v.begin(), v.end());

However, with ranges, we could express it as follows:

std::ranges::sort(v);

The beauty lies...