Essential requirements for compatibility
In this section, we focus on the foundational aspects that make a custom type truly compatible with the STL. Understanding and implementing the key elements we will outline is crucial for leveraging the full potential of STL’s robust and versatile toolkit. We will cover the essentials, such as the design of iterators, adherence to value semantics, operational guarantees, and the provision of size and capacity information, each playing a vital role in ensuring seamless integration with STL algorithms.
The goal here is to equip your custom types with the capability to not only interact with but also enhance the efficiency and functionality of STL algorithms. This requires an understanding of the STL’s expectations in terms of performance, behavior under operations, and exception safety. By meeting these requirements, you will be able to create custom types that are not just functional but also optimized for performance and reliability...