<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <meta name="generator" content="Docutils 0.6: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/" /> <title>The MPL Reference Manual: Algorithms</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../style.css" type="text/css" /> </head> <body class="docframe refmanual"> <table class="header"><tr class="header"><td class="header-group navigation-bar"><span class="navigation-group"><a href="./iterator-category.html" class="navigation-link">Prev</a> <a href="./algorithms-concepts.html" class="navigation-link">Next</a></span><span class="navigation-group-separator"> | </span><span class="navigation-group"><a href="./iterators.html" class="navigation-link">Back</a> <a href="./metafunctions.html" class="navigation-link">Along</a></span><span class="navigation-group-separator"> | </span><span class="navigation-group"><a href="../refmanual.html" class="navigation-link">Up</a> <a href="../refmanual.html" class="navigation-link">Home</a></span><span class="navigation-group-separator"> | </span><span class="navigation-group"><a href="./refmanual_toc.html" class="navigation-link">Full TOC</a></span></td> <td class="header-group page-location"><a href="../refmanual.html" class="navigation-link">Front Page</a> / <a href="./algorithms.html" class="navigation-link">Algorithms</a></td> </tr></table><div class="header-separator"></div> <div class="section" id="algorithms"> <h1><a class="toc-backref" href="../refmanual.html#id1443">Algorithms</a></h1> <p id="label-algorithms">The MPL provides a broad range of fundamental algorithms aimed to satisfy the majority of sequential compile-time data processing needs. The algorithms include compile-time counterparts of many of the STL algorithms, iteration algorithms borrowed from functional programming languages, and more.</p> <p>Unlike the algorithms in the C++ Standard Library, which operate on implict <em>iterator ranges</em>, the majority of MPL counterparts take and return <em>sequences</em>. This derivation is not dictated by the functional nature of C++ compile-time computations per se, but rather by a desire to improve general usability of the library, making programming with compile-time data structures as enjoyable as possible.</p> <!-- This can be seen as a further generalization and extension of the STL's conceptual framework. --> <p>In the spirit of the STL, MPL algorithms are <em>generic</em>, meaning that they are not tied to particular sequence class implementations, and can operate on a wide range of arguments as long as they satisfy the documented requirements. The requirements are formulated in terms of concepts. Under the hood, algorithms are decoupled from concrete sequence implementations by operating on <a class="reference internal" href="./iterators.html">Iterators</a>.</p> <p>All MPL algorithms can be sorted into three major categories: iteration algorithms, querying algorithms, and transformation algorithms. The transformation algorithms introduce an associated <a class="reference internal" href="./inserter.html">Inserter</a> concept, a rough equivalent for the notion of <a class="reference external" href="http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/OutputIterator.html" target="_top">Output Iterator</a> in the Standard Library. Moreover, every transformation algorithm provides a <tt class="literal"><span class="pre">reverse_</span></tt> counterpart, allowing for a wider range of efficient transformations — a common functionality documented by the <a class="reference internal" href="./reversible-algorithm.html">Reversible Algorithm</a> concept.</p> <ul class="toc simple" id="outline"> <li><a class="reference internal" href="./algorithms-concepts.html" id="id1444">Concepts</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="./inserters.html" id="id1447">Inserters</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="./iteration-algorithms.html" id="id1451">Iteration Algorithms</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="./querying-algorithms.html" id="id1457">Querying Algorithms</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="./transformation-algorithms.html" id="id1468">Transformation Algorithms</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="./runtime-algorithms.html" id="id1491">Runtime Algorithms</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="footer-separator"></div> <table class="footer"><tr class="footer"><td class="header-group navigation-bar"><span class="navigation-group"><a href="./iterator-category.html" class="navigation-link">Prev</a> <a href="./algorithms-concepts.html" class="navigation-link">Next</a></span><span class="navigation-group-separator"> | </span><span class="navigation-group"><a href="./iterators.html" class="navigation-link">Back</a> <a href="./metafunctions.html" class="navigation-link">Along</a></span><span class="navigation-group-separator"> | </span><span class="navigation-group"><a href="../refmanual.html" class="navigation-link">Up</a> <a href="../refmanual.html" class="navigation-link">Home</a></span><span class="navigation-group-separator"> | </span><span class="navigation-group"><a href="./refmanual_toc.html" class="navigation-link">Full TOC</a></span></td> <td><div class="copyright-footer"><div class="copyright">Copyright © 2001-2009 Aleksey Gurtovoy and David Abrahams</div> Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at <a class="reference external" href="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt" target="_top">http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)</div></td></tr></table></body> </html>