Lesson 18 - Introducing Vector in C++

In the previous lesson, Template Classes in C++, we talked about template classes. In today's C++ tutorial, we're going to introduce a container that is smarter than an array. Mainly, because it allows us to add or remove items from it at it also frees its memory automatically. In principle, it's a resizable array similar to the one we programmed in the previous lessons.

We've already used the term "container" in this course. It's a structure where multiple objects can be stored. There are lots of container in C++, designed for different purposes, and these can be used in different ways. We know that the array has a constant size, which is a price paid for its high speed. We also created our own resizable array. Vector works very similarly. For our online course, we're going to need a smart container to which we can easily add or remove items while the program is running. Surely we'd like to maintain a database of some objects in memory like this.

Vector

Vector is a template container. Let's start easily and make a container of numbers that we'll generate randomly. Before we can use the vector, we need to include it. This is done by adding

...End of the preview...
Continue further