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

std::list

std::list is a doubly linked list. Unlike the previous containers, it does not store its elements contiguously. This means you lose out on the cache-friendliness but gain immense flexibility. Insertions and deletions, regardless of position, are a constant-time operation as long as you have an iterator to the position. However, access time is linear, making it less suited for tasks where random access is frequent. std::list is best suited for scenarios where the dataset experiences frequent insertions and deletions from both the middle and the ends, and direct access isn’t a priority.

Purpose and suitability

std::list is a doubly-linked list provided by the STL. Its strengths include the following:

  • Facilitating constant-time insertions and deletions at any position (while sacrificing cache friendliness and fast searching)
  • Preserving iterator validity during modifications (except when the element referred to by the iterator is removed)

It’...