Using the C++ Standard Template Libraries

CHAPTER 4

Map Containers

You retrieve an element from a sequence container by its position. You can access the first or last element of a deque, for example, or an element in a vector by its index position. Map containers work quite differently, as this chapter will explain. In this chapter you’ll learn the following:

• What is meant by an associative container.
• What a map container is and how it is typically organized.
• The types of map containers that are available and their capabilities.
• The functions that map containers provide.
• What a pair is and what it is used for.
• What a tuple is and how you use it.

Introducing Map Containers

The sequence ...