Insert Iterators

insert iterators are output iterators.

Reference: The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference by Nicolai M. Josuttis. Addison-Wesley, 1999. p. 271.

Insert Iterators

An insert iterator implements its assignment operator to call the container's push_back(), push_front(), or insert() member function.

There are three kinds of insert iterators:
               1) Front Inserter (front_inserter())
               2) Back Inserter (back_inserter())
               3) General Inserter (inserter())
They can be used on containers that have the corresponding member functions (push_front(), push_back(), and insert()).

Reference: The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference by Nicolai M. Josuttis. Addison-Wesley, 1999, p. 272.

Insert Iterators

For an insert iterator, iter, the following are true:
       1. *iter is a no-op that returns iter
       2. iter = value; calls one of push_back(),
                        push_front(), or insert().
       3. iter = value; behaves the same as
          *iter = value; but *iter = value; is 
          the preferred syntax.

Reference: The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference by Nicolai M. Josuttis. Addison-Wesley, 1999, p. 272.

Inserting into a vector

Given a vector v, all of the following do the same thing:

    back_inserter(v) = 42;
    inserter(v, v.end()) = 42;
    v.push_back(42);

Reference: The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference by Nicolai M. Josuttis. Addison-Wesley, 1999, p. 272.

Iterator Categories

The Output Iterator (output_iterator_tag) category is the only iterator category not related to the other iterator categories by inheritance:

• Input Iterator (input_iterator_tag)
  
• Forward Iterator (forward_iterator_tag)
  
• Bidirectional Iterator (bidirectional_iterator_tag)
  
• Random Access Iterator (random_access_iterator_tag)
  

Reference: The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference by Nicolai M. Josuttis. Addison-Wesley, 1999, p. 284.

Struct Inheritance

Structs can inherit from structs. This is how the various interator categories inherit from each other. Structs can also inherit from classes.

Reference: The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference by Nicolai M. Josuttis. Addison-Wesley, 1999, p. 284.

Iterator Traits

The following are iterator traits: value_type, difference_type, iterator_category, pointer, reference.

Reference: The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference by Nicolai M. Josuttis. Addison-Wesley, 1999, p. 285.