Differences between iterators and pointers

• "pointer" is a type of type defined as part of the C++ language specification.
• Iterator refers to any type of that meets the requirements and is defined by the C++ standard library specification.
• A pointer can be considered a type of iterator.The iterator in an array container is a pointer type.

The C++ standard library (the STL underlying the ) consists of three components: Container, iterator, and Algorithm.

In the absence of an iterator, various algorithms such as copy(), sort(), and find() must be prepared for each container type (vector, deque, list...).In other words, N algorithms x M containers require (N x M) implementation functions.

In fact, the algorithm does not work directly on the container itself, but on the "pointer-like" of the container.This "pointer pointing to the container element" is the "Iterator.The characteristics of the iterator are determined by the container's capabilities.By providing algorithms for each iterator, rather than for each container, you can fit into N types of algorithms + m types of iterators, or (N+m) implementation functions.