Introducing the C++ standard template library
The C++ Standard Template Library (STL) is a generic template-based library that offers generic containers, among other things. Instead of dealing with dynamic arrays, linked lists, binary trees, or hash tables, programmers can easily use an algorithm that is provided by STL.
The STL is structured by containers, iterators, and algorithms, and their roles are as follows:
- Containers: Their main role is to manage the collection of objects of certain kinds, such as arrays of integers or linked lists of strings.
- Iterators: Their main role is to step through the element of the collections. The working of an iterator is similar to that of a pointer. We can increment the iterator by using the
++operator and access the value by using the*operator. - Algorithms: Their main role is to process the element of collections. An algorithm uses an iterator to step through all elements. After it iterates the elements, it processes each element, for example, modifying...
