The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference

Chapter 6. STL Containers

This chapter discusses STL containers in detail. It continues the discussion that was begun in Chapter 5. The chapter starts with a general overview of the general abilities and operations of all container classes, with each container class explained in detail. The explanation includes a description of their internal data structures, their operations, and their performance. It also shows how to use the different operations and gives examples if the usage is not trivial. Each section about the containers ends with examples of the typical use of the container. The chapter then discusses the interesting question of when to use which container. By comparing the general abilities, advantages, and disadvantages of all container ...