Files
boost_unordered/doc/intro.qbk
Daniel James 3529bc00dc Merge unordred changes.
Merged revisions 56441,56461,56468,56557-56562 via svnmerge from 
https://svn.boost.org/svn/boost/trunk

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  r56441 | danieljames | 2009-09-27 20:12:04 +0100 (Sun, 27 Sep 2009) | 1 line
  
  Try supporting reference parameters in pairs. Probably not required.
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  r56461 | danieljames | 2009-09-29 00:06:03 +0100 (Tue, 29 Sep 2009) | 1 line
  
  Remove the optimization for std::pair with a key reference. It'll be too much hassle to get a very unusual use case to work on all compilers.
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  r56468 | danieljames | 2009-09-29 08:46:44 +0100 (Tue, 29 Sep 2009) | 1 line
  
  Just remove the test since the test itself doesn't work on most compilers.
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  r56557 | danieljames | 2009-10-03 17:40:26 +0100 (Sat, 03 Oct 2009) | 1 line
  
  Fix the iterator category.
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  r56558 | danieljames | 2009-10-03 17:40:53 +0100 (Sat, 03 Oct 2009) | 2 lines
  
  Update reference docs to latest version of draft standard and fill in
  some missing details.
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  r56559 | danieljames | 2009-10-03 17:41:11 +0100 (Sat, 03 Oct 2009) | 1 line
  
  Stricter insert exception tests.
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  r56560 | danieljames | 2009-10-03 17:41:32 +0100 (Sat, 03 Oct 2009) | 1 line
  
  Insert using initializer lists.
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  r56561 | danieljames | 2009-10-03 17:42:00 +0100 (Sat, 03 Oct 2009) | 1 line
  
  Update the unordered rationale.
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  r56562 | danieljames | 2009-10-03 17:42:20 +0100 (Sat, 03 Oct 2009) | 1 line
  
  Make sure inserting from a range of types other than the value type is better tested.
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[SVN r56700]
2009-10-10 13:52:53 +00:00

113 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext

[/ Copyright 2006-2008 Daniel James.
/ Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying
/ file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt) ]
[def __tr1__
[@http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2005/n1836.pdf
C++ Standard Library Technical Report]]
[def __boost-tr1__
[@http://www.boost.org/doc/html/boost_tr1.html
Boost.TR1]]
[def __draft__
[@http://www.open-std.org/JTC1/SC22/WG21/docs/papers/2009/n2960.pdf
Working Draft of the C++ Standard]]
[def __hash-table__ [@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_table
hash table]]
[def __hash-function__ [@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_function
hash function]]
[section:intro Introduction]
For accessing data based on key lookup, the C++ standard library offers `std::set`,
`std::map`, `std::multiset` and `std::multimap`. These are generally
implemented using balanced binary trees so that lookup time has
logarithmic complexity. That is generally okay, but in many cases a
__hash-table__ can perform better, as accessing data has constant complexity,
on average. The worst case complexity is linear, but that occurs rarely and
with some care, can be avoided.
Also, the existing containers require a 'less than' comparison object
to order their elements. For some data types this is impossible to implement
or isn't practical. In contrast, a hash table only needs an equality function
and a hash function for the key.
With this in mind, the __tr1__ introduced the unordered associative containers,
which are implemented using hash tables, and they have now been added to the
__draft__.
This library supplies an almost complete implementation of the specification in
the __draft__.
`unordered_set` and `unordered_multiset` are defined in the header
<[headerref boost/unordered_set.hpp]>
namespace boost {
template <
class Key,
class Hash = ``[classref boost::hash]``<Key>,
class Pred = std::equal_to<Key>,
class Alloc = std::allocator<Key> >
class ``[classref boost::unordered_set unordered_set]``;
template<
class Key,
class Hash = ``[classref boost::hash]``<Key>,
class Pred = std::equal_to<Key>,
class Alloc = std::allocator<Key> >
class ``[classref boost::unordered_multiset unordered_multiset]``;
}
`unordered_map` and `unordered_multimap` are defined in the header
<[headerref boost/unordered_map.hpp]>
namespace boost {
template <
class Key, class Mapped,
class Hash = ``[classref boost::hash]``<Key>,
class Pred = std::equal_to<Key>,
class Alloc = std::allocator<Key> >
class ``[classref boost::unordered_map unordered_map]``;
template<
class Key, class Mapped,
class Hash = ``[classref boost::hash]``<Key>,
class Pred = std::equal_to<Key>,
class Alloc = std::allocator<Key> >
class ``[classref boost::unordered_multimap unordered_multimap]``;
}
When using Boost.TR1, these classes are included from `<unordered_set>` and
`<unordered_map>`, with the classes added to the `std::tr1` namespace.
The containers are used in a similar manner to the normal associative
containers:
[import src_code/intro.cpp]
[intro_example1_2]
But since the elements aren't ordered, the output of:
[intro_example1_3]
can be in any order. For example, it might be:
two,2
one,1
three,3
To store an object in an unordered associative container requires both an
key equality function and a hash function. The default function objects in
the standard containers support a few basic types including integer types,
floating point types, pointer types, and the standard strings. Since
Boost.Unordered uses [classref boost::hash] it also supports some other types,
including standard containers. To use any types not supported by these methods
you have to [link hash.custom extend Boost.Hash to support the type] or use
your own custom equality predicates and hash functions. See the
[link unordered.hash_equality Equality Predicates and Hash Functions] section
for more details.
There are other differences, which are listed in the
[link unordered.comparison Comparison with Associative Containers] section.
[endsect]