Welcome to the standard template library section of the course.
In this section of the course, we'll learn about the c++
standard template library or stl for short.
The stl provides a rich set of containers,
iterators and algorithms that we can use with just about any type of data we wish.
We've already worked with one of the stl workhorses, the vector.
First, we'll see what the stl is all about,
and then we'll learn a little bit about generic or meta programming,
which is what the stl uses to allow us to use its components
on just about any type of data.
We'll see how c++ can use preprocessor macros,
function templates and class templates to achieve generic programming.
We'll also learn what generic programming is and why it's so powerful.
Then we'll look at the types of containers, iterators and algorithms provided by the stl.
And we'll look at each of the main containers such as array,
vector, dec, list, set, maps, stacks,
queues and priority queues.
Finally, we'll learn about some of the commonly used algorithms in the stl.
The cool thing about the stl is that once you learn how to use one container,
one iterator and one algorithm,
then the rest follows the same pattern so they become easy to learn.
There will also be several challenges in this section
that will allow you to solve more problems using the stl containers,
iterators and algorithms.
Most beginning c++ courses don't cover the stl
but I think it's important to cover it since it's used very often in c++ programming.
Great. So let's see what the stl is all about.