Iterators seen as generalized pointers

Lecture 6 - Slide 2 : 40

C++ iterators are modelled as generalized pointers

The pointer-related operators are used to manipulate iterators

The most important operators on iterators
- Access to the current element: * and ->
- Go to the next element: ++
- Equality and inequality: == and !=
The start of a sequence s
- s.begin()
The end of a sequence s
- s.end()
- Designates a non-existing one past the last element
Iterator validity
- An iterator can only be used if it is valid
- An iterator is invalid if it is non-intialized, points to the end, if the container has been destroyed, resized, ...