A Simple Question about STL's map container

Code:

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        map<string,int> dict;
        dict["we"]++;
        cout<< dict["vermeer"];

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I was told that "indexing a map 'inserts' the key into the map if it is not already present, if 'vermeer' is not present, this form of search enters it into the map with an occurence count of zero". <Essencial C++> stanley lippman, pp91.

What does this mean? I think before cout<< dict["vermeer"]; the "vermeer" entry's value is already 0.

>What does this mean?
It means that when you say dict["vermeer"], a record is added to the map with the key "vermeer" and the value 0.

>I think before cout<< dict["vermeer"]; the "vermeer" entry's value is already 0.
No, "vermeer" isn't an entry in the map before that line. "we" is, but not "vermeer".

http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/Map.html
Use find() to test whether an entry exists, without creating it.

which solution takes longer time: indexing vs find()?

They should take the same time (essentially the same algorithm), except when one adds a new element to the map by accessing a previously nonexistent index.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by meili100

which solution takes longer time: indexing vs find()?

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An indexing operation on a map is just a find() but if the element doesn't exist, it is allocated. So for items which already exist in the map, the performance should be the same.

Indexing creates the element because it has to. The indexing operator returns a reference to an element. In order to do this, the element has to exist.

If you want a new record to be created if one doesn't exist, or if you know that it must exist, then use operator[]. If you want to check first, then use find. If you already have an iterator t the element, don't use either, use the iterator you already have.