Vectors
Last updated 2/3/2023
These slides introduce C++ vectors
Vectors
• Motivation
• Arrays have a limitation in that they must have a fixed size
• The Standard Template Library has a data type called
vector
• A vector is a type of sequence container
• Vectors hold a sequence of values or elements
• Vectors are not limited to a fixed size
• Vectors can use the array subscript operator [ ]
• Vectors can have elements added to or removed at any time
• Vectors can report their current size
• Vectors are passed to functions by value by default
• Unlike Arrays whith are passed by reference by default
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Vectors
• Where are vectors stored
• Since they can grow over time
• The elements of the vector are stored on the heap
• The vector template manages the creation (new) and destruction
(delete)
• The actual vector object is located in the stack with appropriate
pointers to the heap
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Vectors
• Syntax
#include <vector>
• creating vectors
vector<type> name;
vector<type> name(initial size);
vector<type> name(initial size, initial value); // initializes all values
vector<type> name{list of element values}; // initializes values with {}
vector<type> name(vector); // initializes from another vector
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Vectors
• Accessing Vector elements
• Just like arrays
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Vectors
• Accessing Vector elements
• Use size of the vector function for looping limit
• objectName.size()
Note: unsigned int because
size() returns an unsigned int
and the compiler whines about
a mismatch
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Vectors
• Accessing Vector elements
• Use the vector iterator for looping limits
• objectName.begin(), object_name.end()
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Vectors
• Add/remove elements from a vector
• objectName.push_back(value) // adds element with value
• objectName.pop_back() // removes last element in vector
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Vectors
• Passing vectors to functions
Note use of const in this case
since the vector is not modified
Also note passing as a reference
Note use of const iterator, cbegin()
and cend() since the object
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Vectors
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Vectors
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Vectors
• Using the Algorithm library
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
void load_vector(vector<int> & myvector);
void load_vector2(vector<int> & myvector);
void print_vector(const vector<int> & myvector);
int main(void){
vector<int> v1(20);
vector<int> v2;
load_vector(v1);
print_vector(v1);
cout << v1.front() << "-" << v1.back() << endl;
cout << "location of 33: " << find(v1.begin(), v1.end(), 33) - v1.begin() <<
endl;
cout << "is 44 present? " << binary_search(v1.begin(), v1.end(), 44) << endl;
sort(v1.begin(), v1.end());
cout << "sorted ";
print_vector(v1);
cout << "is 44 present? " << binary_search(v1.begin(), v1.end(), 44) << endl;
random_shuffle(v1.begin(), v1.end());
cout << "random ";
print_vector(v1);
v1.insert(v1.begin()+5, 99);
print_vector(v1);
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Vectors
• Using the Algorithm library
load_vector2(v2);
cout << "vector2 ";
print_vector(v2);
reverse(v2.begin(), v2.end());
cout << "reversed ";
print_vector(v2);
cout << *v2.begin() << "-" << *v2.end() << endl;
return 0;
}
void load_vector(vector<int> & myvector){
for(unsigned int i=0; i< myvector.size(); i++){
myvector[i] = (i*i*i+1)%100;
}
return;
}
void load_vector2(vector<int> & myvector){
for(unsigned int i=0; i < 20; i++){
myvector.push_back((i*i*i*i)%100);
}
return;
}
void print_vector(const vector<int> & myvector){
vector<int>::const_iterator itr;
for(itr = myvector.begin(); itr != myvector.end(); itr++){
cout << *itr << " ";
}
cout << endl;
return;
}
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