Vectors
Outside of the string class, all the STL containers are templated! Therefore the types they hold must be specified at compile time
vector
for vectors: #include
Whats good about vectors?
Well they have fast random access, only fast to add/delete at the end
Plus they’re dynammic! Which allows them to grow or shrink in size while they’re running
vector
vector <double> temp;
vector <int> points;
vector <string> names;
The <> describe the type that will be used with the class!
Since they’re Dynamic they grow with size. Some methods that reflect this are:
- size(): which tells use how much the container presently holds
- capacity: how much it could hold before it has to grow and manage memory
Lets start making some vectors!!
A vector of size and capacity zero:
vector<int> vec;
Create a vector of capacity 5, size 5, with each initialized to the default value (0 for int)
vector<int> vec(5);
Different vector member functions
v.capacity() // How much the Vector can store before growing
v.size() // Vectors current size
v.empty() // Returns True is size == 0
v.reserve(n) // Will grow the capacity of the vector to n size
v.push_back(value) // Append value to end of the Vector
v.pop_back() // Removes the last value in the Vector (no return like python)
v.size() // is useful because v.size() - 1 is the index of the last element in v
v.empty() // is equivalent to v.size() == 0
v.reserve() // Increases the Capacity of the Vector
Examples Below:
#include <iostream>
using std::cout;using std::endl;
#include <vector>
using std::vector;
int main() {
vector<int> v = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
cout << "v.front(): " << v.front() << endl;
cout << "v.back(): " << v.back() << endl;
v.clear();
cout << "Lets use v.size(): " << v.size() << endl;
v.assign(2,10);
cout << "Lets check the front and back of our vector" << endl;
cout << "v.front(): " << v.front() << endl;
cout << "v.back(): " << v.back() << endl;
}
Output:
v.front(): 1
v.back(): 5
Lets use v.size(): 0
Lets check the front and back of our vector
v.front(): 10
v.back(): 10
Access front and back of a Vector
v.front() // the element at the front of the vector
v.back() // the element at the back of the vector
How would you retrieve the last element in a Vector?
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
vector<int> data = {1, 2, 3};
data.push_back(4);
cout <<data[data.size()-1] << endl;
}
How do we add and delete a element in a vector?
Use push_back method, which is the primary way to add to a vector
Use pop_back method to access a vector from the end, it doesnt return the value, it just removes it!
If we want to check the value, we use .back()
Operators
How can we access data values inside our vector(s)?
- We can use either [index] or .at(index)
But we cannot use them to “append”, in order to append we need to use push_back(item)
#include <iostream>
using std::cout;
using std::endl;
#include <vector>
using std::vector;
int main()
{
vector<int> data = {1, 2, 3};
cout << data[1] << endl; //accessing items
cout << data.at(1) << endl;
}
#include <iostream>
using std::cout;
using std::endl;
#include <vector>
using std::vector;
int main()
{
vector<int> data = {1, 2, 3};
data.push_back(4);
cout << "First Index: " << data[0] << endl;
cout << "Second Index: " << data[1] << endl;
cout << "Third Index: " << data[2] << endl;
cout << "Fourth index: " << data[3] << endl;
}
Output:
First Index: 1
Second Index: 2
Third Index: 3
Fourth index: 4
We can also copy one vector into another vector!
- by using assignment v1 == v2
Example:
#include <iostream>
using std::cout;
using std::endl;
#include <vector>
using std::vector;
void print_vector(vector<int> vec)
{
for (auto element : vec)
{
cout << element << endl;
}
}
int main()
{
vector<int> data = {1, 2, 3};
vector<int> data2;
data2 = data;
print_vector(data);
print_vector(data2);
}
Output:
1
2
3
1
2
3
For printing Vectors, we can’t just normally print, we need to iterate through them!
How do we pass Vectors to Functions?
#include <iostream>
using std::cout;
using std::endl;
#include <vector>
using std::vector;
void print_vector(vector<int> data)
{
for (int i = 0; i < data.size(); i++ )
{
cout << data[i] << endl;
}
}
int main()
{
vector<int> data = {1, 2, 3};
print_vector(data);
}
Output:
1
2
3
Otherwise to Print the vector!
#include <iostream>
using std::cout;
using std::endl;
#include <vector>
using std::vector;
void print_vector(vector<int> vec)
{
for (auto element : vec)
{
cout << element << ", ";
}
cout << endl;
}
int main()
{
vector<int> data = {1, 2, 3};
print_vector(data);
}
Output:
1, 2, 3,
Multidimensional Vectors (2-D)
#include <iostream>
using std::cout;
using std::endl;
#include <vector>
using std::vector;
int main()
{
vector <vector<int>> grades =
{
{1,2,3},
{4,5,6},
{7,8,9}
};
for (int r = 0; r < 3; r++)
{
for ( int c = 0; c < 3; c++ )
{
cout << grades[r][c] << "\t";
}
cout << "\n";
};
}
Output
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
Range Based Loops
changing the vector using the & sign! Example:
#include <iostream>
using std::cout;
using std::endl;
#include <vector>
using std::vector;
int main()
{
vector<int> my_ints { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
for (auto element : my_ints){
cout << element << " : ";
}
cout << endl;
for (auto & x : my_ints){
x += 2;
}
for (auto element : my_ints)
{
cout << element << " : ";
}
cout << endl;
}
Output:
1 : 2 : 3 : 4 : 5 :
3 : 4 : 5 : 6 : 7 :