Cannot understand the references and documentations

[Chewbacca]

I've been using Java for the past 3 years but I'm a total beginner with C++.

I just can't seem to understand the way most C++ library/documents are written.

Take, for example : http://www.cppreference.com/cppmap/map_constructors.html

The contstructors for maps are written as :

  #include <map>
  map();
  map( const map& m );
  map( iterator start, iterator end );
  map( iterator start, iterator end, const key_compare& cmp );
  map( const key_compare& cmp );
  ~map();

I....don't even understand that. I tried declaring a map and it seems that map is a template that requires two parameters. So I can't just map newmap. I have to declare it like this map <string, int> newmap.

I understand what that does and why I'm doing it. But where is this mentioned in the documentation I linked? How am I supposed to know, short of looking up examples?

Also, does this site ( http://www.cppreference.com/ ) contain all of the default classes?

Thank you for any help. I'm kind of stuck here.

[helios]

Well, you were looking at the constructor reference, which shouldn't really contain that information except in optional examples (look at this equivalent: http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/stl/map/map.html). Declaration is different from construction. Look, in contrast at this other page: http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/stl/map/
cppreference isn't all that great. It's an OK reference and good if you only need a quick peek at the prototypes.

[Zaita]

http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/table_of_contents.html

I find that to be the best STL documentation available.

[Chewbacca]

Alright, I'm reading through that article. Starting to get a hang of it.

But now I've got one question. I can understand the STL somewhat, but what about the non-STL stuff? I've downladed Codeblocks, boost, also have MS Studio 2005 installed. There are tons of non-STL stuff that came with them. Where do I find the documentation for them? I am....at a lost.

[helios]

Well, the C++ Standard Library in itself is not purely STL. You've also got the C library, streams, strings, algorithms.
Code::Blocks is an IDE, so I have no idea what you're talking about.
Many proprietary compilers like to choose which parts of the standard to implement, along with what non-standard stuff to add. It's best not to use anything non-standard in this case.
And, unsurprisingly, the best place to find boost documentation is the boost website.

[Zaita]

http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_35_0
:)