Introducing C++

Chapter 4. Using Loops, Arrays, and Vectors

You can create code to write output and get input. You got one number so far. In this chapter, I will show you how to store several numbers using containers. C++ containers are class templates for common data structures, which store elements. C++ has several different types of containers, including sequenced containers, like an array or a vector, and associative containers, letting you build lookup tables. You will see an example of the latter type in Chapter 15.

In this chapter, you will learn how to fill and use containers. You will also learn how to find properties of the container, such as the largest element. You will learn other useful parts of C++ including loops and more. When I tell you about arrays, I will introduce many new features. By the time you get to the vectors, you will find similar ideas and might be able to guess what to try.

By the end of this chapter you will know a lot more about C++ and be ready to write more detailed programs. In Chapter 5, you will find out how to use various algorithms from the standard library to analyze elements in containers.

Input of Several Numbers Using a Loop

In Chapter 2, you input a single number. Let’s think about getting several numbers. How do you get more than one number? You could build on the initial input code, declaring two variables to get two numbers, as shown in Example 4-1.

Example 4-1. Attempt to input several numbers

#include <iostream>

int main()
{
    double number1 ...