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

Summary

Throughout this chapter, we have deepened our understanding of the STL through the lens of std::vector and its interaction with various algorithms. We commenced with sorting vectors, where we explored the std::sort algorithm and its underlying engine, introsort, appreciating its O(n log n) efficiency. We progressed to searching within vectors, contrasting the conditions and efficiencies of linear and binary search techniques.

The chapter then guided us through effective vector manipulation, including transformation with std::copy and the considerations necessary to prevent performance degradation or logical errors. We learned to use custom comparators and predicates to extend the functionality of standard algorithms when working with user-defined structs and classes. Finally, we explored container invariants and iterator invalidation, acquiring strategies to maintain data integrity even in complex, multi-threaded environments.

Critically, this information provides us...