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

Practical use cases

While understanding the theoretical and performance advantages of std::vector is essential, it is often in real-world applications that the strength of a tool becomes evident. As we dive into practical use cases, you’ll see why std::vector is frequently the container of choice for many developers and why, sometimes, other options might be more fitting.

A resizable dynamic array at heart

Imagine developing a simulation program that models the behavior of particles in a chamber. The number of particles can vary drastically as they split or merge. Here, using std::vector would be ideal due to its dynamic nature. The program would benefit from the constant-time direct access for particle updates, and its resizing capability would easily handle varying particle numbers.

Data processing and analytics

Data analytics often involves reading large datasets, processing them, and extracting information. Consider a scenario where you’re tasked with...