iterators?

Could someone please explain iterators to me? They are mentioned in the C++ strings tutorial, however I honestly just don't understand them at all.

The part that they are mentioned at are as follows:

"On the other hand, strings are actually sequences, just like any other STL container, so you can use iterators to iterate over the contents of a string.

Code:

string::iterator my_iter;
for(my_iter = my_string.begin(); my_iter != my_string.end(); my_iter++)
{
    cout<<*my_iter;
}

Note that my_string.end() is beyond the end of the string, so we don't want to print it, whereas my_string.begin() is at the first character of the string.

Incidentally, C++ string iterators are easily invalidated by operations that change the string, so be wary of using them after calling any string function that may modify the string."

You could always look it up.

Originally Posted by Queatrix

You could always look it up.

Thanks for the fast reply. I thought about looking it up, however I also thought that just posting here about it would involve less work for myself, .

Why do you even bother programming if you're too lazy to look up such a simple concept ?

Originally Posted by Desolation

Why do you even bother programming if you're too lazy to look up such a simple concept ?

Agreed.

Being a good programmer means you have to be able to think for yourself and discover how to find solutions to problems you've never encountered. In this day and age, things are easier with the Internet allowing you to find the answers. It's there. Use it.

I would dare say I believe many people would have been thrilled if they had the Internet hundreds of years ago to find information by themselves.

A simple search in google would have given you at least a dozen of links explaining what are iterators. A forum is not for asking such simple questions, a forum is for asking questions when you don't understand a concept or an error even though you've searched information on it...

Edit:

I also thought that just posting here about it would involve less work for myself

And this phrase clearly shows that you don't value other people's time.

Closed. The OP clearly doesn't want an answer, he just wants to generate work for us and swear at us.