C++ Primer, Fifth Edition

9.6. Container Adaptors

In addition to the sequential containers, the library defines three sequential container adaptors: stack, queue, and priority_queue. An adaptor is a general concept in the library. There are container, iterator, and function adaptors. Essentially, an adaptor is a mechanism for making one thing act like another. A container adaptor takes an existing container type and makes it act like a different type. For example, the stack adaptor takes a sequential container (other than array or forward_list) and makes it operate as if it were a stack. Table 9.17 lists the operations and types that are common to all the container adaptors. ...