Resizing and reserving memory
In our exploration of std::vector
, understanding how to manage its memory effectively is essential. A vector’s beauty is in its dynamism; it can grow and shrink, adapting to the ever-changing requirements of our applications. Yet, with this flexibility comes the responsibility to ensure efficient memory utilization. This section digs into the operations that let us manipulate vector sizes and their preallocated memory: resize
, reserve
, and shrink_to_fit
.
When working with vectors, we’ve seen how their capacity (preallocated memory) might differ from their actual size (number of elements). The methods to manage these aspects can significantly affect your programs’ performance and memory footprint.
The power of resize()
Imagine you have std::vector
holding five elements. If you suddenly need it to keep eight elements, or perhaps only three, how would you make this adjustment? The resize()
function is your answer.
resize...