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

Understanding capacity versus size

As you venture deeper into the art of C++ programming with std::vector, it becomes crucial to grasp the distinctions between a vector’s size and capacity. While closely related, these terms serve different roles in managing and optimizing dynamic arrays, and understanding them will dramatically enhance both the efficiency and clarity of your code.

Revisiting the basics

Recall from the previous chapter that the size of a vector denotes the number of elements it currently holds. When you add or remove elements, this size adjusts accordingly. So, if you have a vector containing five integers, its size is 5. Remove an integer, and the size becomes 4.

But herein lies a compelling facet of std::vector: while its size changes based on its elements, the memory it allocates doesn’t always follow suit immediately. To understand this thoroughly, we need to explore the concept of capacity. Let us do that in the next section.

What exactly...