Standard C++ Library User Guide and Tutorial

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Overview

The standard library provides no fewer than ten alternative forms of container. In this section

we will briefly describe the varieties, considering the characteristics of each, and discuss how

you might go about selecting which container to use in solving a particular problem.

Subsequent sections will then go over each of the different containers in more detail.

The following chart shows the ten container types provided by the standard library, and gives a

short description of the most significant characteristic for each.

Name Characteristic

vector random access to elements, efficient insertions at end

list efficient insertion and removal throughout

deque random access, efficient insertion at front or back

set elements maintained in order, efficient test for inclusion, insertion and

removal

multiset set with repeated copies

map access to values via keys, efficient insertion and removal

multimap map permitting duplicate keys

stack insertions and removals only from top

queue insertion at back, removal from front

priority queue efficient access and removal of largest value