The Standard Library documentation uses a formal approach that you’re going to find difficult to read and even harder to understand. The best way to begin is to break the Standard Library into smaller pieces. You can categorize the Standard Library functions in a number of ways. One of the most common approaches is to use the following categories:
Containers
Containers work just like the containers in your home — they hold something. For example, both queues and deques are kinds of containers. The Containers category doesn’t contain any functions, but it does contain a number of types including the following:
basic_string bit_vector bitset char_producer deque hash list map multimap multiset priority_queue queue rope set slist stack vector
Iterators
Iterators enumerate something. When you create a list of items, and then go through that list checking items off, you’re enumerating the list. Using iterators helps you create lists of items and manipulate them in specific ways. The kind of iterator you create is important because some iterators let you go forward only, some can go in either direction, and some can choose items at random. Each kind of iterator has its specific purpose.
The Iterators category includes a number of types. These types determine the kind of iterator you create in your code and the capabilities of that iterator. Following is a list of the iterator types:
back_insert_iterator bidirectional_iterator bidirectional_iterator_tag forward_iterator forward_iterator_tag front_insert_iterator input_iterator input_iterator_tag insert_iterator istream_iterator iterator_traits ostream_iterator output_iterator output_iterator_tag random_access_iterator random_access_iterator_tag raw_storage_iterator reverse_bidirectional_iterator reverse_iterator sequence_buffer
The Standard Library also includes a number of iterator-specific functions. These functions help you perform tasks such as advance (increment) the iterator by a certain number of positions. You can also measure the distance between the beginning and end of the iterator. The following is a list of iterator functions:
advance distance distance_type iterator_category value_type
Algorithms
Algorithms perform data manipulations such as replacing, locating, or sorting information. It’s hard to create a substantial application without using one. There aren’t any types in the Algorithms category. The following is a list of algorithm functions:
accumulate adjacent_difference adjacent_find advance binary_search copy copy_backward copy_n count count_if distance equal equal_range fill fill_n find find_end find_first_of find_if for_each generate generate_n includes inner_product inplace_merge iota is_heap is_sorted iter_swap lexicographical_compare lexicographical_compare_3way lower_bound make_heap max max_element merge min min_element mismatch next_permutation nth_element partial_sort partial_sort_copy partial_sum partition pop_heap power prev_permutation push_heap random_sample random_sample_n random_shuffle remove remove_copy remove_copy_if remove_if replace replace_copy replace_copy_if replace_if reverse reverse_copy rotate rotate_copy search search_n set_difference set_intersection set_symmetric_difference set_union sort sort_heap stable_partition stable_sort swap swap_ranges transform uninitialized_copy uninitialized_copy_n uninitialized_fill uninitialized_fill_n unique unique_copy upper_bound
Functors
Functors are a special class of object that acts as if it’s a function. In most cases, you call a functor by using the same syntax you use for a function, but functors possess all the good elements of objects as well, such as the ability to instantiate them at runtime.
Functors come in a number of forms. For example, a binary function functor accepts two arguments as input and provides a result as output. Functors include a number of types that determine the kind of function the code creates:
binary_compose binary_function binary_negate binder1st binder2nd divides equal_to greater greater_equal hash identity less less_equal logical_and logical_not logical_or mem_fun1_ref_t mem_fun1_t mem_fun_ref_t mem_fun_t minus modulus multiplies negate not_equal_to plus pointer_to_binary_function pointer_to_unary_function project1st project2nd select1st select2nd subtractive_rng unary_compose unary_function unary_negate
Utilities
Utilities are functions and types that perform small service tasks within the Standard Library. The functions are min(), max(), and the relational operators. The types are chart_traits (the traits of characters used in other Standard Library features, such as basic_string) and pair (a pairing of two heterogeneous values).
Adaptors
Adaptors perform conversions of a sort. They make it possible to adapt one kind of data to another. In some cases, adaptors perform data conversion, such as negating numbers. The Adaptors category includes one function, ptr_fun(). In addition, the Adaptors category includes the types listed here:
back_insert_iterator binary_compose binary_negate binder1st binder2nd front_insert_iterator insert_iterator mem_fun1_ref_t mem_fun1_t mem_fun_ref_t mem_fun_t pointer_to_binary_function pointer_to_unary_function priority_queue queue raw_storage_iterator reverse_bidirectional_iterator reverse_iterator sequence_buffer stack unary_compose unary_negate
Allocators
Allocators manage resources, normally memory. In most cases, you won’t ever need to use the members of the Allocators category. For example, you normally create new objects using the new operator. The new operator allocates memory for the object and then creates it by calling the object’s constructor.
In rare cases, such as when you want to implement a form of object pooling, you may want to separate the memory allocation process from the construction process. In this case, you call construct() to perform the actual task of constructing the object based on its class definition. The Allocators category has the following functions.
construct destroy get_temporary_buffer return_temporary_buffer uninitialized_copy uninitialized_copy_n uninitialized_fill uninitialized_fill_n
The Allocators category also includes a couple of types. These types help you manage memory, and you may find more use for them than you will the functions in this category. The types are
raw_storage_iterator temporary_buffer
Polymorphic allocators
When working with older versions of the Standard Library, allocators used as arguments to templates create problems because they’re bound by type. What this means is that a vector created using std::vector
The myalloc part of the template simply defines the method used to allocate memory; it doesn’t actually affect the type of data managed by the template. So, in both cases, you’re created a vector to hold int data — the types are the same. The only difference is the method in which memory is allocated (the first uses standard memory allocation techniques, while the second uses a custom allocator).
Using polymorphic allocators eliminates this problem by defining an abstract base memory class, memory_resource, to use for all memory allocators. This abstract class defines the following pure virtual methods:
allocate deallocate is_equal()