Overloading C++ STL methods

Question

How can I overload the STL implementation for methods like find, erase and insert to take varying parameters? I tried to look up the overloading of STL methods but couldn't find any help.

Answer 1

You can't overload the methods of a class without editing the code of that class.

Write your own free functions that act as helpers; they would take the relevant container class as the first parameter.

You can inherit from a class and add methods that way, but the std container classes are not designed to be inherited from.

Answer 2

You are not allowed to add overloads in the std namespace. Only specialization of functions and algorithms for your own data types are allowed. If you do want a different find, erase, insert... implement a wrapper (out of the std namespace) and use it.

And I would not recommend it either... What kind of overloads do you want to provide?

Answer 3

You are not allowed to do this; the standard prohibits it.