STANDARD TEMPLATE LIBRARY (STL)

Prepared by -
Aamod Jain
(Coordinator – Coding Club)

• STL is a collection of algorithms, data structures and other tools that can
be user to simplify the making of C++ programs.

• STL provides several containers such as arrays, vectors, maps, sets along
with algorithms for searching, sorting and manipulating data.

• Since most of the data structures and algorithms in STL are implemented
optimally, it helps to produce efficient code resulting in faster execution
times.

INCLUDING THE STL LIBRARY

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DATA STRUCTURES

1. Arrays :

• arrays are a fundamental data structure that allows you to store a fixed-
size sequence of elements of the same data type in contiguous memory
locations .

CREATING AN ARRAY
 • int myArray[10];
declares an array of 10 integers.

• int myArray[5] = {1,2,3,4,5};

initializes an array of 5 integers with specified values.

• int firstElement = myArray[0]; // firstElement is 1

int secondElement = myArray[1]; // secondElement is 2

2. VECTORS

A vector is a dynamic array provided by STL. It changes its size

automatically when elements are added or removed.

Advantages of using vector :

• Automatically manages the size of array .

• Provides many useful member functions for various operations.

CREATING A VECTOR

• vector<int> v;
declares vector v of data type int

• vector<int> v = {1,2,3};
declares a vector of 3 elements

• vector<int>v(10) ;
creates empty vector of size 10 with all values initialized to 0

• vector<int>v(10,2) ;
creates empty vector of size 10 with all values initialized to 2

VECTOR FUNTIONS

• v.size() : returns the size of a vector

• v[x] : to access , use and modify the element at index x in vector v.
• v.push_back(5) : pushes elements to the end of vector.
 • v.pop_back() : deletes the last element of a vector .
• v.back() : returns the last elements of the vector.
• v.clear() : deletes all the elements of the vector making its size 0.

ITERATORS IN VECTORS

An iterator is like a pointer that allows you to traverse or move through the
elements of a vector (or other container). It helps in accessing elements in a
sequential manner.

Many STL functions operate with iterators.

• begin() : points to the first element in the data structure.

• end() : points to the position after the last element.

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FUNCTIONS USING ITERATORS

• sort(v.begin(),v.end()) : sorts the array in ascending order

• reverse(v.begin(),v.end()) : reverses the array
• max_element(v.begin(),v.end()) : returns the pointer to max element in
vector .
• min_element(v.begin(),v.end()) : returns the pointer to min element in
vector .
• v.erase(position) : deletes element at specified position
• v.erase(starting_pos , ending_pos) : for deleting range
• v.insert(position , value) : inserts value ate specified position

3. STRINGS

A string is just a sequence of characters . It is also a dynamic array that can

be used almost like a vector .

CREATING A STRING
 STRING FUNTIONS

• string.length() : Returns length of the string .

• Concatenation : strings can be concatenated using ‘+’ operator .

• string.substr(pos , len) : Returns a substring starting from position pos

with length len.

• find(str, pos = 0): Finds the first occurrence of substring str starting from
position pos.
 4. PAIR

A pair is a simple container that stores two values. These values can be
of the same type or different types.

CREATING PAIRS

5. SETS

• A set is a data structure that maintains a collection of elements .

• It can contain only unique values and stores the elements in sorted
order .
• It is based on a balanced binary tree and its operations work in O(logn)
time.
CREATING SETS AND USING SET FUNCTIONS
UNORDERED SET : uses hashing , preserves the order of elements and its
operations work in O(1) time on average and hence can be more
efficient.
 MULTISET : similar to set but can store duplicate elements.

6. MAPS

• Maps store data as key-value pairs where keys and values can be of any
data type.
• Map structure is based of balanced binary tree and accessing elements
takes O(logn) time.
 CREATING MAPS AND USING MAP FUNCTIONS

ADVANCED DATA STRUCTURES

1. STACK

• Stack is a linear data structure that follows the Last In, First Out (LIFO)
principle. This means the most recently added item is the first one to be
removed.
• It provides 2 O(1) operations : adding element to top and removing
element from the top.
• Its only possible to access the top element of a stack.
2. QUEUE

• Queue is a linear data structure that follows the First In, First Out (FIFO)
principle. This means the first element added to the queue will be the
first one to be removed.
• It also provides two O(1) operations : adding element to the end and
removing element from the front.
• Its only possible to access the first and last element of a queue.

To know more about these data structures , visit

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https://cplusplus.com/reference/stl/

Useful YouTube playlists -

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# Practice Problems :

1. Arrays / Vectors :
• https://codeforces.com/problemset/problem/1979/A
• https://leetcode.com/problems/two-sum/description/
• https://leetcode.com/problems/remove-duplicates-
from-sorted-array/description/
• https://leetcode.com/problems/merge-sorted-
array/description/

2. Strings :
• https://codeforces.com/problemset/problem/1974/B
• https://codeforces.com/problemset/problem/1941/C
• https://codeforces.com/problemset/problem/1907/B

More such problems here –

• https://codeforces.com/problemset?tags=strings,800-
1200
• https://leetcode.com/tag/string/

3. Sets / Maps :
• https://leetcode.com/problems/majority-
element/description/
• https://codeforces.com/contest/701/problem/C
• https://leetcode.com/problems/unique-number-of-
occurrences/description/
• https://codeforces.com/contest/1800/problem/B
Thank You