What are some advanced STL features that you use regularly?

1 Smart pointers

One of the challenges of C++ is managing memory allocation and deallocation, especially when dealing with dynamic objects and polymorphism. Smart pointers are STL components that wrap around raw pointers and provide automatic memory management, preventing memory leaks and dangling pointers. There are three main types of smart pointers in the STL: unique_ptr, shared_ptr, and weak_ptr. Each of them has different ownership semantics and use cases, but they all support the same basic operations as raw pointers, such as dereferencing, accessing members, and passing as arguments. Smart pointers can also work with custom deleters, arrays, and make functions.

3 Lambda expressions

Lambda expressions are a feature of C++11 that allow you to define anonymous functions or functors inline, without having to declare them separately. Lambda expressions can be used to create simple and concise code blocks that can be passed as arguments to algorithms, iterators, or other functions that accept callable objects. Lambda expressions can also capture variables from the surrounding scope, either by value or by reference, and use them inside the function body. Lambda expressions can have different syntaxes and return types, depending on the complexity and purpose of the function.

4 Variadic templates

Variadic templates are a feature of C++11 that allow you to define templates that can accept a variable number of arguments, either of the same type or of different types. Variadic templates can be used to create generic and flexible functions or classes that can handle different kinds of inputs, without having to overload or specialize them for each case. Variadic templates can also be combined with other features, such as constexpr, decltype, and std::tuple, to create powerful and expressive code. Variadic templates can be implemented by using parameter packs, which are sequences of template parameters that can be expanded, manipulated, or forwarded.

5 STL algorithms

The STL algorithms are a set of functions that perform common operations on ranges of elements, such as sorting, searching, counting, modifying, or generating. The STL algorithms are designed to work with any kind of iterators, which abstract the access to the underlying containers. The STL algorithms can also accept predicates, comparators, or other callable objects that customize the behavior or the criteria of the operation. The STL algorithms can improve the readability, maintainability, and portability of your code, by avoiding manual loops and errors. The STL algorithms also offer different versions for different scenarios, such as parallel, stable, or inplace.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?