Advanced C++ Crash Course (Data Structures (Containers))

Author: methylDragon
Contains an advanced syntax reference for C++
This time, we'll be going through some basic Data Structures and Iterators!

Pre-Requisites

Assumed knowledge (This is a C++ crash course, not a basic coding tutorial)

How variables, loops, conditionals, etc. work (Basic coding fundamentals will help a lot!)
Linux (Terminal/Console proficiency) (We're going to need to compile our stuff)
Gone through the all preceding parts of the tutorial

Table Of Contents

Introduction
C++ Container Reference
2.1 Container Concept
2.2 Arrays
2.3 Dynamic Arrays
2.4 Linked Lists
2.5 Pairs
2.6 Tuples
2.7 Queues
2.8 Priority Queues
2.9 Stacks
2.10 Trees
2.11 Sets
2.12 Maps
2.13 Unordered Sets/HashSets
2.14 Unordered Maps/HashMaps
C++ Iterator Reference
3.1 Iterator Concept
3.2 Iterator-Container Compatibility
3.3 Basic Iterator Usage
3.4 Iterator Overview Preface
3.5 Input Iterators
3.6 Output Iterators
3.7 Forward Iterators
3.8 Bidirectional Iterators
3.9 Random Access Iterators

1. Introduction

Time to dive into some more super useful functionalities that the standard C++ library offers - data structures that can be used for solving lots of different computer science problems!

Note that when we're talking about data structures, we're talking about stuff like vectors, queues, etc.

And NOT structs like so:
struct not_this_please {
  int nope;
  double definitely no;
} not_this_please_instance_1;
We're talking algorithm related data structures!

It might be a bit confusing, so we might perhaps use the term that C++ uses, and just say outright that we're going to go through a cursory, non-exhaustive tour of the C++ STL Container library.

(STL stands for Standard Template Library.)

2. C++ Container Reference

This will not be an exhaustive list.

2.1 Container Concept

go to top

Standard containers in the C++ STL and standard library wraps different abstract and non-abstract data structures in a nice neat interface.

They:

Are well documented
Are guaranteed to be implemented correctly
Are fast and usually more efficient
Share common interfaces

Although one gotcha needs to be taken care of if working with them in a threaded application.

Threaded reads are fine, but any operation that modifies the container (in a way that invalidates iterators) are not thread safe generally.

2.2 Arrays

Contiguous and continuous collection of homogeneous elements that can be accessed by index. The index is the displacement from the start of the array. It can't be resized.

C++ container: Array Example:array<int, 5> array{{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}};

Notice that these are different from the standard int i[5] type arrays! The underlying implementation is about the same, but we're talking containers here.

#include <array>

// Array 1 uses aggregate initialisation
array<int, 5> array{{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}};
array<int, 5> array_2 = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

array.size(); // Get size
array.max_size(); // Get max size
array.empty(); // Check if empty

// Get iterator to beginning and end
array.begin();
array.end();

// Get reverse iterators
array.rbegin(); // Last element backwards
array.rend(); // First element - 1 index

// Get values at beginning and end
array.front();
array.end();

// Get values at index
array.at(INDEX);

// Just directly access the entire array
array.data();

2.3 Dynamic Arrays

Just like normal arrays, except that they can be resized as they are dynamically allocated.

It's not so efficient to add or remove elements from dynamic arrays since all the elements are contiguous and need to be shifted.

If you need that, it's probably better to use a linked list. On the other hand, contiguous memory containers are great for accessing data though!

C++ container: Vector

Example: std::vector<int> i{1, 2, 3};

#include <vector>

std::vector<int> vector{1, 2, 3};

vector.size(); // Get size
vector.max_size(); // Get max size
vector.empty(); // Check if empty
vector.resize(); // Resize vector
vector.reserve(); // Request change in capacity
vector.shrink_to_fit(); // Shrink to fit
vector.capacity(); // Return size of allocated storage capacity

// Get iterator to beginning and end
vector.begin();
vector.end();

// Get reverse iterators
vector.rbegin(); // Last element backwards
vector.rend(); // First element - 1 index

// Get values at beginning and end
vector.front();
vector.end();

// Get values at index
vector.at(INDEX);

// Just directly access the entire underlying array
vector.data();

vector.assign(); // Assign vector content
vector.push_back(); // Add element at end
vector.pop_back(); // Delete last element

// Insertions
// https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/vector-insert-function-in-c-stl/
vector.insert();

// Deletions
// https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/vector-erase-and-clear-in-cpp/
vector.erase();
vector.clear();

// Swap values
vector.swap();

// Emplace (returns a modified copy of the vector)
vector.emplace();
vector.emplace_back();

2.4 Linked Lists

(Singly Linked List)

(Doubly Linked List)

Linked lists contain data that aren't contiguous. Each element in the list is linked using pointers, so in order to access the next element, you need to first access the preceding element. This allows for very quick insertions and deletions, but not very efficient indexing.

They come in two flavours too! Singly linked lists only support indexing in one direction, while doubly linked lists do it both ways.

The C++ list is actually a doubly linked list.

C++ container: List and Forward List

Example: std::list<int> i;

Example: std::forward_list<int> i;

List is doubly linked. Forward list is singly linked.

From here on out it'll get too unwieldy to write everything.

Most containers have a standard interface with .begin, .end, and most of the insertion and deletion methods. So just check out the reference!

List

// Adapted From Source: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/list-cpp-stl/

#include <list>  

int main()
{
  // Declaring forward list 
  std::list<int> list1{1, 2, 3}; 

  // Declaring another forward list 
  std::list<int> list2{4, 5, 6}; 

  // Assigning values using assign() 
  list1.assign({1, 2, 3}); 

  // Assigning repeating values using assign() 
  // 5 elements with value 10 
  list2.assign(5, 10); 
}

Forward List

// Source: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/forward-list-c-set-1-introduction-important-functions/

#include <forward_list>  

int main()
{
  // Declaring forward list 
  std::forward_list<int> flist1{1, 2, 3}; 

  // Declaring another forward list 
  std::forward_list<int> flist2{4, 5, 6}; 

  // Assigning values using assign() 
  flist1.assign({1, 2, 3}); 

  // Assigning repeating values using assign() 
  // 5 elements with value 10 
  flist2.assign(5, 10); 
}

2.5 Pairs

They're pairs. Of objects. In twos.

Yeah.

They don't have to be the same type though. That's cool... Right? 👀

It's not really a data structure per se, if anything it's a primitive. But it's nice to include here.

C++ container: Pair

Example: ``std::pair<int, float> pair;`

#include <utility>

std::pair<int, char> pair;
std::pair<int, char> pair_2(1, 'o');

pair.first = 100;
pair.second = 'w';

2.6 Tuples

They're like arrays, but can be heterogeneous. Pairs are technically tuples that are limited to size 2.

C++ container: Tuple

Example: std::tuple<int,char> tuple(10,'x');

Example: auto wow = std::make_tuple("wow!", 1, 2, 'a');

#include <tuple>

int main()
{
  std::tuple <char, int, float> wow; 
  wow = std::make_tuple("a", 15, 12);
}

// Unpack tuple values into variables using tie()
std::tie(a, b, c) = wow;
std::tie(a, ignore, c) = wow; // Use ignore to ignore values

// Concatenate tuples
std::tuple_cat(tuple_1, tuple_2);

// Swap tuple elements
tuple_1.swap(tuple_2); // Swaps tuple_1 values with tuple_2's

// Index into tuples
tuple_1.get(1);

2.7 Queues

Abstract data structure that contains elements. Adheres to FIFO (First In, First Out.)

C++ container: Queue

Example: std::queue<int> numbers;

You can also have a double ended queue called a deque!

C++ container: Deque

Example: std::deque<int> numbers;

The specific C++ implementation uses a vector of vectors to implement deques. And queues are just limited versions of deques. Specifically it's a queue of chunks of fixed size, which are vectors. And the queue of chunks is a vector.

Queue

Note that the standard implementation does not support random access (at) indexing!

#include <queue>

// Function to print queue
template<typename T> void print_queue(T& q)
{
    while(!q.empty()) {
        std::cout << q.top() << " ";
        q.pop();
    }
    std::cout << '\n';
}

// Construct Queue
std::queue queue;

// Insert and pop
queue.push(1);
queue.pop();

// Get front
queue.front();

// Get size
queue.size();

Deque

#include <deque>

// Construct Queue
std::deque deque;

// Insert and pop
deque.push_back(1);
deque.push_front(2);
deque.pop_back();
deque.pop_front();

// Get front and back
deque.front();
deque.back();

// Get size
deque.size();
deque.max_size();

// Index
deque.at(1);

2.8 Priority Queues

Just like queues, except FIFO isn't adhered to. Only the 'top' element will be shoved to the front of the queue to be popped next.

What 'top' means depends on the specific implementation. Top could mean things like highest or lowest value depending on some value determining function.

C++ container: Priority Queue

Example: std::priority_queue<int> q;

// Source: https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/container/priority_queue

// Function to print queue
template<typename T> void print_queue(T& q)
{
    while(!q.empty()) {
        std::cout << q.top() << " ";
        q.pop();
    }
    std::cout << '\n';
}

#include <queue>

std::priority_queue<int> q;

for(int n : {1,8,5,6,3,4,0,9,7,2})
{
  q.push(n);
}

q.pop();

2.9 Stacks

Abstract data structure that contains elements. Adheres to LIFO (Last In, First Out.)

C++ container: Stack

Example: std::stack<int> s;

#include <stack> 

// Function to print a stack
template<typename T> void showstack(T& s) 
{ 
    while (!s.empty()) 
    { 
        cout << '\t' << s.top(); 
        s.pop(); 
    } 
    cout << '\n'; 
} 

std::stack<int> s;

// Push to stack
s.push(1);

showstack(s);

// Get top value
s.top();

// Pop
s.pop();

2.10 Trees

Oh man. There are way too many trees. And we can't cover them all. The image above should give you a good intuition of what trees are, but each special type of trees have their own special features.

They can sometimes be implemented in array or vector form as well, but we'll not talk about that.

There are no dedicated C++ generalised tree containers. There's too many to generalise properly!

There should be some specialised libraries for use with trees, but none specifically for trees in the STL. (Though some STL classes like sets and maps do make use of red-black trees in their implementations.)

2.11 Sets

A set is an abstract data type that stores sorted, unique values. You can insert or delete elements from them but those elements can't be modified.

They're collections of unique, sorted keys.

In C++ these are implemented using red-black trees.

C++ container: Set

Example: std::set<int> s;

There's a variant called a multiset that allows duplicate non-unique keys to be stored!

C++ container: Multiset

Example: std::multiset<int> s;

#include <set>

std::set<int> s;
std::multiset<int> ms; // All the below apply as well

// Insert and erase
s.insert(50);
s.insert(50); // This second one does nothing since sets store UNIQUE values

ms.insert(50);
ms.insert(50); // The multiset now has two elements of 50

s.erase(50);

// Get iterators to beginning and end
s.begin();
s.end();

// Get reverse iterators
s.rbegin(); // Last element backwards
s.rend(); // First element - 1 index

// Get iterators
s.lower_bound(5); // Iterator >= 5
s.upper_bound(50); // Iterator <=50
s.equal_range(); // Gets you upper and lower bound as a pair

// Get iterator indexed at key
s.find(5)

// Get sizes
s.size();
s.max_size();

// Check if empty
s.empty();

2.12 Maps

A map is an abstract data type that stores sorted key-value pairs. You can insert or delete keys, but you can't modify the keys. You can modify the values though!

They're collections of unique, sorted key-value pairs.

In C++ these are implemented using red-black trees.

C++ container: Map

std::map<key_type, value_type>

Example: std::map<int, int> map = {{1, 1}, {2, 2}};

There's a variant called a multimap that allows duplicate non-unique keys to be stored!

C++ container: Multimap

Example: std::multimap<int> s;

#include <map>

std::map<char, int> map;
std::multimap<char, int> multimap; // All the below apply as well

// Insert and erase
map.insert(std::pair<char, int>('a', 50));
map.insert(std::pair<char, int>('a', 50)); // This second one does nothing since sets store UNIQUE values

multimap.insert(std::pair<char, int>('a', 50));
multimap.insert(std::pair<char, int>('a', 50)); // The multiset now has two elements of 50

map.erase(50);

// Get iterators to beginning and end
map.begin();
map.end();

// Get reverse iterators
map.rbegin(); // Last element backwards
map.rend(); // First element - 1 index
                
// Get iterators
map.lower_bound(5); // Iterator >= 5
map.upper_bound(50); // Iterator <=50
map.equal_range(); // Gets you upper and lower bound as a pair

// Index into map
map.at(5)

// Get sizes
map.size();
map.max_size();

// Check if empty
map.empty();

2.13 Unordered Sets/HashSets

They're like sets. But they're unordered. Because they're implemented using hashes! These use more memory but with the benefit of faster accesses if the sets are large.

C++ container: Unordered Set

Example: std::unordered_set<int> unordered_set;

And of course there's the multiset variant

C++ container: Unordered Multiset

Example: std::unordered_multiset<int> unordered_multiset;

#include <unordered_set>

std::unordered_set<int> s;
std::unordered_multiset<int> ms; // All the below apply as well

// Insert and erase
s.insert(50);
s.insert(50); // This second one does nothing since sets store UNIQUE values

ms.insert(50);
ms.insert(50); // The multiset now has two elements of 50

s.erase(50);

// Get iterators to beginning and end
s.begin();
s.end();

// No reverse or iterators that require sorting

// Get iterators
s.equal_range(); // Gets you upper and lower bound as a pair

// Get iterator indexed at key
s.find(5)

// Get sizes
s.size();
s.max_size();

// Check if empty
s.empty();

// Hash policy methods
s.load_factor();
s.max_load_factor();
s.rehash(); // Set number of buckets
s.reserve(); // Change capacity
s.hash_function(); // Get hash function

// Bucket methods
s.bucket_count();
s.max_bucket_count();
s.bucket_size();
s.bucket(); // Locate element's bucket

2.14 Unordered Maps/HashMaps

They're like maps. But they're unordered. Because they're implemented using hashes! These use more memory but with the benefit of faster accesses if the maps are large.

Keys are passed through a hash function that spits out a bucket ID. The buckets are there to prevent collisions (when the bucket IDs clash for different keys.)

C++ container: Unordered Map

std::unordered_map<key_type, value_type>

Example: std::unordered_map<int, int> unordered_map = {{1, 1}, {2, 2}};

And the multimap variant

C++ container: Unordered Multimap

Example: std::unordered_multimap<int, int> unordered_multimap;

#include <unsorted_map>

std::map<char, int> map;
std::multimap<char, int> multimap; // All the below apply as well

// Insert and erase
map.insert(std::pair<char, int>('a', 50));
map.insert(std::pair<char, int>('a', 50)); // This second one does nothing since sets store UNIQUE values

multimap.insert(std::pair<char, int>('a', 50));
multimap.insert(std::pair<char, int>('a', 50)); // The multiset now has two elements of 50

map.erase(50);

// Get iterators to beginning and end
map.begin();
map.end();

// No reverse or iterators that require sorting

// Get iterators
map.equal_range(); // Gets you upper and lower bound as a pair

// Index into map
map.at(5)

// Get sizes
map.size();
map.max_size();

// Check if empty
map.empty();

// Hash policy methods
map.load_factor();
map.max_load_factor();
map.rehash(); // Set number of buckets
map.reserve(); // Change capacity
map.hash_function(); // Get hash function

// Bucket methods
map.bucket_count();
map.max_bucket_count();
map.bucket_size();
map.bucket(); // Locate element's bucket

3. C++ Iterator Reference

3.1 Iterator Concept

An iterator is an object that points to an element inside a container. So you can use them to move through the contents of a container! They're not pointers per se, they're more of an abstract object, but act a lot like pointers.

There are five kinds of iterators provisioned for in the STL, each with increasingly more functionality.

So you'll usually see this kind of image floating around in the net:

And you'd think that it indicates some sort of class hierarchy, but actually no. This diagram is just a statement of which iterator has more functionality than the other.

Iterator Type	Functionality
Input	Read only, forward moving
Output	Can write only once, forward moving
Forward	Read and write, forward moving
Bidirectional	Read and write, forward and backward moving
Random Access	Read and write, with random access

So as you can see, random access iterators have the most functionality.

3.2 Iterator-Container Compatibility

Of course, since we just went through containers above, and iterators are used to traverse containers, it's best to talk about which containers support which iterators. We'll mention the highest level of available iterator to use for each container.

Container	Iterator
Vector	Random Access
List	Bidirectional
Deque	Random Access
Map	Bidirectional
Multimap	Bidirectional
Set	Bidirectional
Multiset	Bidirectional
Stack	-
Queue	-
Priority-Queue	-

3.3 Basic Iterator Usage

Iterators help to simplify your code and increase its re-usability, since they provide a common interface for traversing standard library and STL containers.

Container Methods

// Here we define an iterator for a vector
vector<int> v = {1, 2, 3};
vector<int>::iterator i; 

// Accessing the elements using iterators 
for (i = v.begin(); i != v.end(); ++i) 
{ 
  cout << *i << " "; 
}

// Adding and Deleting Elements
v.push_back(4);
v.erase(4);

// Get beginning and end positions of container
v.begin();
v.end();

Iterator Operations

// Get current position of the iterator
*i;

// Increment the iterator (now we operate on the iterator!)
std::advance(i, 3); // Advance the iterator 3 positions

// Return new iterator at new position
// Of course, prev can't be used for forward only iterators
auto it_1 = std::next(i, 3); // New iterator that is 3 positions ahead of i
auto it_2 = std::prev(i, 3); // New iterator that is 3 positions behind i

Inserters

Pass in two iterators that define a range of values to insert from a container.

Then an inserter function that takes in the container to be operated on, and an iterator that points where to operate.

std::list<int> foo{1, 2, 3, 7, 8};
std::list<int> bar{4, 5, 6};

std::list<int>::iterator it = foo.begin();
advance (it, 3);

std::copy(bar.begin(),bar.end(),std::inserter(foo,it));

// Foo now contains {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}

// You can also use front_inserter and back_inserter, which are essentially
// Equivalent calls to inserter(foo, foo.begin()) and inserter(foo, foo.end()) respectively
std::copy (bar.begin(),bar.end(),front_inserter(foo)); // Inserts at front of container
std::copy (bar.begin(),bar.end(),back_inserter(foo)); // Inserts at back of container

Notice that the inserter inserts the values before the current position

3.4 Iterator Overview Preface

So again, remember that iterators are abstract objects that help you remember what they can do. Creating an iterator for a particular object creates an iterator with method implementations that are provisioned for by the type of iterator that object supports.

Eg. Creating a vector iterator automatically creates a random access iterator, which supports all the methods that a random access iterator supports.

So when going through these, I'll just add the functionalities incrementally. To avoid repeating stuff.

For some of these functions, you'll have to include the <algorithm> library.

3.5 Input Iterators

Useful for single pass algorithms.

You can't decrement them, and you can't assign with them.

You also can't do more complex relational operations with them like >, <, <=, >=.

// Suppose we have two input iterators
// input_it_1 and input_it_2

// Comparisons
input_it_1 == input_it_2; // Checks if the iterators are pointing to the same position
input_it_1 != input_it_2; // Checks if the iterators are not pointing to the same position

// Dereferencing
auto a = *input_it_1; // Get the value pointed at
auto a = input_it_1 -> m; // Get member m of the element pointed at

// Incrementing (Moves the position forward)
input_it_1++;
++input_it_1;

Supported Methods

Note:

equal_range() requires forward iterators and is not supported.

// You can swap the values pointed at by two input iterators, even if you can't insert directly!
std::swap(input_it_1, input_it_2);

// Find elements
std::find(input_it_1, input_it_2, val);

// Compare elements within a range with another range
std::equal(input_it_1, input_it_2, start_of_sequence_to_compare);

// Copy a range into another range
std::copy(input_it_1, input_it_2, some_output_iterator);

3.6 Output Iterators

Useful for single pass algorithms.

You can't decrement them, and you can't access with them.

You also can't do comparisons with them!

// Suppose we have two output iterators
// output_it_1 and output_it_2

// Dereferencing
*output_it_1 = a; // Get the value pointed at
output_it_1 -> m = a; // Get member m of the element pointed at

// Incrementing (Moves the position forward)
output_it_1++;
++output_it_1;

Supported Methods

// You can swap the values pointed at by two input iterators, even if you can't insert directly!
std::swap(output_it_1, output_it_2);

// Copy a range into another range
std::copy(input_it_1, input_it_2, some_output_iterator);

// Move a range into another range
std::move(input_it_1, input_it_2, some_output_iterator);

3.7 Forward Iterators

Combine the powers of input and output iterators and you get the forward iterator!

Note that you still can't decrement them! Or do more arithmetic than simple incrementing.

I'm not going to repeat the functionalities for input and output ones. But the cool thing is that forward iterators become more than the sum of their parts! So we get some new functions that we can use.

Supported Methods

// Return the bounds of the subrange the includes all elements equal to some value
std::equal_range(forward_it_first, forward_it_last, val);

// Replace all values equal to a certain value
std::replace(forward_it_first, forward_it_last, old_val, new_val);

3.8 Bidirectional Iterators

Just like forward iterators, except you can decrement them! Which again, unlocks more cool functions.

Still can't randomly access them though. Sadly.

You can use them for multi-pass algorithms though!

// Finally you can decrement!
bidirectional_it--;
--bidirectional_it;

Supported Methods

// Create a new container, but with elements reversed
std::reverse_copy(bidirectional_it_first, bidirectional_it_last, output_it_result);

3.9 Random Access Iterators

And finally we get to the all encompassing iterator. The random access iterator that allows for offset access and stronger comparisons like <, >, >=, <=.

// You can do nicer comparsions now!
random_access_it_1 <= random_access_it_1; // Checks if it_1 is before or at it_2

// And you can jump positions!
random_access_it_1 + 2;

// And do offset dereferencing!
random_access_it[3];

Supported Methods

// Random shuffle!
std::random_shuffle(random_access_first, random_access_last, random_number_generator);

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