From: Mike N. 

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 21:50:34 -0500, "Geo"  wrote:

>>   This allocates only 2 elements instead of allocating a complete linear
>> array from [0..1832873].
>
>very efficient, so what happens if you then set
>
>counts[555]=0
>
>does it give back the space?

   Here's where the simple syntax ends and you need an iterator to remove
the element.

 map :: interator countsFind;

....

   countsFind = counts.find(555);
   if (countsFind != counts.end()) {
      // Remove element pointed to by countsFind
      countsFind.erase();
   }


 ------------------



>I'm not sure I fully understand how this works but it looks pretty slick, is
>it actually setting up 2 arrays to do this because the map function looks
>like what I've always thought of as an array in a language where you have a
>string$ type variable.

   It ends up implemented as a binary tree to keep the keys sorted.
Behind the scenes, the template creates a class that contains both the key and value.

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