Practical Guide to STL

// Program: Vector Demo
// Purpose: To demonstrate STL vectors

// #include "stdafx.h" - include if you use pre compiled headers
#include <vector>	// STL vector header. There is no ".h"
#include <iostream>	// for cout
using namespace std;	// Ensure that the namespace is set to std

char* sHW = "Hello World";	
// This is - as we all know - a character array, terminated with a null character

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
	vector <char> vec;	// A vector (STL array) of characters

	// Define an iterator for a vector of characters - this is always 
	// scoped to within the template
	vector <char>::iterator vi;

	// Initialize the character vector, loop through the string, 
	// placing the data in the vector character by character until 
	// the terminating NULL is reached
	char* cptr = sHW;	// Start a pointer on the Hello World string
	while (*cptr != '\0')
	{	vec.push_back(*cptr);	cptr++;	}
	// push_back places the data on the back of the vector (otherwise known as the end of the vector)

	// Print each character now stored in the STL array to the console
	for (vi=vec.begin(); vi!=vec.end(); vi++)	
	// This is your standard STL for loop - usually "!=" is used in stead of "<"
	// because "<" is not defined for some containers. begin() and end() retrieve iterators 
	// (pointers) to the beginning of the vector and to the end of vector
	{	cout << *vi;	}	// Use the indirection operator (*) to extract the data from the iterator
	cout << endl;	// No more "\n"

	return 0;
}