本书讲述的是如何使用STL。C++技术权威Scott Meyers揭示了专家总结的一些关键规则，包括他们总是采用的做法以及总是避免的做法。这些规则可以发挥STL的最大效用。书中共有50条指导原则，在讲述每一条指导原则时，Scott Meyers都提供了透彻的分析和深刻的实例，所以读者不仅可以学到要做什么，而且还能够知道什么时候该这样做，以及为什么要这样做。如同Meyers的其他著作一样，本书充满了从实践中总结出来的智慧。清晰、简明、透彻的风格使本书成为每一位STL程序员的案头必备。

C++的标准模板库（STL）是革命性的，但是要想学会用好STL却充满了挑战性。中国台湾技术作家侯捷先生曾经把STL的学习过程比喻为三个境界：

第一境界：熟用STL。

第二境界：了解泛型技术的内涵与STL的学理乃至实作。

第三境界：扩充STL。

本书无疑是你达到第二境界的最佳读本。在本书中，C++技术权威Scott Meyers揭示了专家总结的一些关键规则，包括他们总是采用的做法以及总是避免的做法。这些规则可以发挥STL的最大效用。

有些书只是描述STL中有些什么内容，而本书则讲述如何使用STL。本书共有50条指导原则，在讲述每一条指导原则时，Scott Meyers都提供了透彻的分析和深刻的实例，所以读者不仅可以学到要做什么，而且还能够知道什么时候该这样做，以及为什么要这样做。

如同Meyers的其他著作一样，本书充满了从实践中总结出来的智慧。清晰、简明、透彻的风格使本书成为每一位STL程序员的案头必备。

本书特色

●关于选择容器的建议，涉及的容器有：标准STL容器（例如vector和list）、非标准的STL容器（例如hash_set和hash_map），以及非STL容器（例如bitset）。

●一些提高效率的技术，通过它们可以最大程度地提高STL（以及使用STL的程序）的效率。

●深入到迭代器、函数对象和分配子（allocator）的行为，也包括程序员总是应该避免的做法。

●对于那些同名的算法和成员函数，如find，根据它们行为方式上的微妙差异，本书给出了一些指导原则，以保证它们能被正确地使用。

●讨论了潜在的移植性问题，包括避免这些移植性问题的各种简单途径。

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introducton

Chapter 1: Containers

Item 1: Choose your containers with care.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Item 8: Never create containers of auto_ptrs.

Item 9: Choose carefully among erasing options.

Item 10: Be aware of allocator conventions and restrictions.

Item 11: Understand the legitimate uses of custom allocators.

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

Chapter 2: vector and string

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

Item 14: Use reserve to avoid unnecessary reallocations.

Item 15: Be aware of variations in string implementations.

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

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

Item 18: Avoid using vector.

Chapter 3: Associative Containers

Item 19: Understand the difference between equality and equivalence.

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

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

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

Item 23: Consider replacing associative containers with sorted vectors.

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

Item 25: Familiarize yourself with the nonstandard hashed containers.

Chapter 4: Iterators

Item 26: Prefer iterator to const_iterator, reverse_iterator, and const_reverse_iterator.

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

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

Item 29: Consider istreambuf_iterators for character by character input.

Chapter 5: Algorithms

Item 30: Make sure destination ranges are big enough.

Item 31: Know your sorting options.

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

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

Item 34: Note which algorithms expect sorted ranges.

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

Item 36: Understand the proper implementation of copy_if.

Item 37: Use accumulate or for_each to summarize ranges.

Chapter 6: Functors, Functor Classes, Functions, etc.

Item 38: Design functor classes for pass-by-value.

Item 39: Make predicates pure functions.

Item 40: Make functor classes adaptable.

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

Item 42: Make sure less means operator<.

Chapter 7: Programming with the STL

Item 43: Prefer algorithm calls to hand-written loops.

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

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

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

Item 47: Avoid producing write-only code.

Item 48: Always #include the proper headers.

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

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

Bibliography

Appendix A: Locales and Case-Insensitive String Comparisons

Appendix B: Remarks on Microsoft’s STL Platforms

Index