APIs and C++ containers in C++

As well as the language primitives that C++ provides, it also comes with a Standard Template Library (STL) and associated APIs that greatly aid system programming. A good portion of this book will focus on these APIs, and how they support system programming. 

It should be noted that the focus of this book is system programming and not C++, and for this reason, we do not cover C++ containers in any detail, but instead assume the reader has some general knowledge of what they are and how they work. With that said, C++ containers support system programming by preventing the user from having to re-write them manually.

We teach students how to write their own data structures, not so that when they need a data structure they know how to write one, but instead so that, when they need one, they know which data structure to use and why. C++ already provides most, if not all, of the data structures you might need when system programming.