STL Introduction

C++ STL Overview

The Standard Template Library (STL) is a powerful set of C++ template classes and functions that provide common data structures and algorithms. It has three main components: containers (store collections of data), iterators (traverse elements), and algorithms (operate on data). STL containers manage memory automatically and grow as needed. Instead of writing your own linked list or sorting routine, you can use STL components that are efficient, tested, and reusable.

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>

int main() {
    std::vector<int> nums = {5, 2, 8, 1, 9};
    std::sort(nums.begin(), nums.end());
    for (int n : nums) {
        std::cout << n << " ";
    }
    return 0;
}