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Contents
This chapter expands on the material from Chapter 3 and completes our discussion of the standard-library sequential containers. The order of the elements in a sequential container corresponds to the positions in which the elements are added to the container. The library also defines several associative containers, which hold elements whose position depends on a key associated with each element. We’ll cover operations specific to the associative containers in Chapter 11.
The container classes share a common interface, which each of the containers extends in its own way. This common interface makes the library easier to learn; what we learn about one kind of container applies to another. Each kind of container offers a different set of performance and functionality trade-offs.
A container holds a collection of objects of a specified type. The sequential containers let the programmer control the order in which the elements are stored and accessed. That order does not depend on the values of the elements. Instead, the order corresponds to the position at which elements are put into the container. By contrast, the ordered and unordered associative containers, which we cover in Chapter 11, store their elements based on the value of a key.
The library also provides three container adaptors, each of which adapts a container type by defining a different interface to the container’s operations. We cover the adaptors at the end of this chapter.
This chapter builds on the material covered in § 3.2, § 3.3, and § 3.4. We assume that the reader is familiar with the material covered there.
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Note