Table of Contents

Preface  xi Acknowledgments  xv Introduction  1 Chapter 1: Containers  11 Item 1: Choose your containers with care.  11

Item 2: Beware the illusion of container-independent code.  15

Item 3: Make copying cheap and correct for objects in containers.  20

Item 4: Call empty instead of checking size() against zero.  23

Item 5: Prefer range member functions to their single-element counterparts.  24

Item 6: Be alert for C++’s most vexing parse.  33

Item 7: When using containers of newed pointers, remember to delete the pointers before the container is destroyed.  36

Item 8: Never create containers of auto_ptrs.  40

Item 9: Choose carefully among erasing options.  43

Item 10: Be aware of allocator conventions and restrictions.  48

Item 11: Understand the legitimate uses of custom allocators.  54

Item 12: Have realistic expectations about the thread safety of STL containers.  58

Chapter 2: vector and string  63 Item 13: Prefer vector and string to dynamically allocated arrays.  63

Item 14: Use reserve to avoid unnecessary reallocations.  66

Item 15: Be aware of variations in string implementations.  68

Item 16: Know how to pass vector and string data to legacy APIs.  74

Item 17: Use “the swap trick” to trim excess capacity.  77

Item 18: Avoid using vector.  79

Chapter 3: Associative Containers  83 Item 19: Understand the difference between equality and equivalence.  83

Item 20: Specify comparison types for associative containers of pointers. 88

Item 21: Always have comparison functions return false for equal values.  92

Item 22: Avoid in-place key modification in set and multiset.  95

Item 23: Consider replacing associative containers with sorted vectors.  100

Item 24: Choose carefully between map::operator[] and map::insert when efficiency is important.   106

Item 25: Familiarize yourself with the nonstandard hashed containers.  111

Chapter 4: Iterators  116 Item 26: Prefer iterator to const_iterator, reverse_iterator, and const_reverse_iterator.  116

Item 27: Use distance and advance to convert const_iterators to iterators.   120

Item 28: Understand how to use a reverse_iterator’s base iterator.  123

Item 29: Consider istreambuf_iterators for character by character input.  126

Chapter 5: Algorithms  128 Item 30: Make sure destination ranges are big enough.  129

Item 31: Know your sorting options.  133

Item 32: Follow remove-like algorithms by erase if you really want to remove something.  139

Item 33: Be wary of remove-like algorithms on containers of pointers.  143

Item 34: Note which algorithms expect sorted ranges.  146

Item 35: Implement simple case-insensitive string comparisons via mismatch or lexicographical_compare.  150

Item 36: Understand the proper implementation of copy_if.  154

Item 37: Use accumulate or for_each to summarize ranges.  156

Chapter 6: Functors, Functor Classes, Functions, etc.  162 Item 38: Design functor classes for pass-by-value.  162

Item 39: Make predicates pure functions.  166

Item 40: Make functor classes adaptable.  169

Item 41: Understand the reasons for ptr_fun, mem_fun, and mem_fun_ref.  173

Item 42: Make sure less means operator<.  177

Chapter 7: Programming with the STL  181 Item 43: Prefer algorithm calls to hand-written loops.  181

Item 44: Prefer member functions to algorithms with the same names.  190

Item 45: Distinguish among count, find, binary_search, lower_bound, upper_bound, and equal_range.  192

Item 46: Consider function objects instead of functions as algorithm parameters.  201

Item 47: Avoid producing write-only code.  206

Item 48: Always #include the proper headers.  209

Item 49: Learn to decipher STL-related compiler diagnostics.  210

Item 50: Familiarize yourself with STL-related web sites.  217

Bibliography  225 Appendix A: Locales and Case-Insensitive String Comparisons  229 Appendix B: Remarks on Microsoft’s STL Platforms  239 Index  245

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Scott Meyers is one of the world's foremost authorities on C++, providing training and consulting services to clients worldwide. He is the author of the best-selling Effective C++ series of books (Effective C++, More Effective C++, and Effective STL) and of the innovative Effective C++ CD. He is consulting editor for Addison Wesley's Effective Software Development Series and serves on the Advisory Board for The C++ Source (http://www.artima.com/cppsource). He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Brown University. His web site is http://www.aristeia.com.