STL deque accessing by index is O(1)?

Question

I've read that accessing elements by position index can be done in constant time in a STL deque. As far as I know, elements in a deque may be stored in several non-contiguous locations, eliminating safe access through pointer arithmetic. For example:

abc->defghi->jkl->mnop

The elements of the deque above consists of a single character. The set of characters in one group indicate it is allocated in contiguous memory (e.g. abc is in a single block of memory, defhi is located in another block of memory, etc.). Can anyone explain how accessing by position index can be done in constant time, especially if the element to be accessed is in the second block? Or does a deque have a pointer to the group of blocks?

Update: Or is there any other common implementation for a deque?

Answer 1

I found this deque implementation from Wikipedia:

Storing contents in multiple smaller arrays, allocating additional arrays at the beginning or end as needed. Indexing is implemented by keeping a dynamic array containing pointers to each of the smaller arrays.

I guess it answers my question.

Answer 2

The datas in deque are stored by chuncks of fixed size vector, which are

pointered by a map(which is also a chunk of vector, but its size may change)

The main part code of the deque iterator is as below:

/*
buff_size is the length of the chunk
*/
template <class T, size_t buff_size>
struct __deque_iterator{
    typedef __deque_iterator<T, buff_size>              iterator;
    typedef T**                                         map_pointer;

    // pointer to the chunk
    T* cur;       
    T* first;     // the begin of the chunk
    T* last;      // the end of the chunk

    //because the pointer may skip to other chunk
    //so this pointer to the map
    map_pointer node;    // pointer to the map
}

The main part code of the deque is as below:

/*
buff_size is the length of the chunk
*/
template<typename T, size_t buff_size = 0>
class deque{
    public:
        typedef T              value_type;
        typedef T&            reference;
        typedef T*            pointer;
        typedef __deque_iterator<T, buff_size> iterator;

        typedef size_t        size_type;
        typedef ptrdiff_t     difference_type;

    protected:
        typedef pointer*      map_pointer;

        // allocate memory for the chunk 
        typedef allocator<value_type> dataAllocator;

        // allocate memory for map 
        typedef allocator<pointer>    mapAllocator;

    private:
        //data members

        iterator start;
        iterator finish;

        map_pointer map;
        size_type   map_size;
}

Below i will give you the core code of deque, mainly about two parts:

1. iterator

2. How to Random access a deque realize

1. iterator(__deque_iterator)

The main problem of iterator is, when ++, -- iterator, it may skip to other chunk(if it pointer to edge of chunk). For example, there are three data chunks: chunk 1,chunk 2,chunk 3.

The pointer1 pointers to the begin of chunk 2, when operator --pointer it will pointer to the end of chunk 1, so as to the pointer2.

Below I will give the main function of __deque_iterator:

Firstly, skip to any chunk:

void set_node(map_pointer new_node){
    node = new_node;
    first = *new_node;
    last = first + chunk_size();
}

Note that, the chunk_size() function which compute the chunk size, you can think of it returns 8 for simplify here.

operator* get the data in the chunk

reference operator*()const{
    return *cur;
}

operator++, --

// prefix forms of increment

self& operator++(){
    ++cur;
    if (cur == last){      //if it reach the end of the chunk
        set_node(node + 1);//skip to the next chunk
        cur = first;
    }
    return *this;
}

// postfix forms of increment
self operator++(int){
    self tmp = *this;
    ++*this;//invoke prefix ++
    return tmp;
}
self& operator--(){
    if(cur == first){      // if it pointer to the begin of the chunk
        set_node(node - 1);//skip to the prev chunk
        cur = last;
    }
    --cur;
    return *this;
}

self operator--(int){
    self tmp = *this;
    --*this;
    return tmp;
}

iterator skip n steps / random access

self& operator+=(difference_type n){ // n can be postive or negative
    difference_type offset = n + (cur - first);
    if(offset >=0 && offset < difference_type(buffer_size())){
        // in the same chunk
        cur += n;
    }else{//not in the same chunk
        difference_type node_offset;
        if (offset > 0){
            node_offset = offset / difference_type(chunk_size());
        }else{
            node_offset = -((-offset - 1) / difference_type(chunk_size())) - 1 ;
        }
        // skip to the new chunk
        set_node(node + node_offset);
        // set new cur
        cur = first + (offset - node_offset * chunk_size());
    }

    return *this;
}

// skip n steps
self operator+(difference_type n)const{
    self tmp = *this;
    return tmp+= n; //reuse  operator +=
}

self& operator-=(difference_type n){
    return *this += -n; //reuse operator +=
}

self operator-(difference_type n)const{
    self tmp = *this;
    return tmp -= n; //reuse operator +=
}

// random access (iterator can skip n steps)
// invoke operator + ,operator *
reference operator[](difference_type n)const{
    return *(*this + n);
}

2. Random access deque elements

common function of deque

iterator begin(){return start;}
iterator end(){return finish;}

reference front(){
    //invoke __deque_iterator operator*
    // return start's member *cur
    return *start;
}

reference back(){
    // cna't use *finish
    iterator tmp = finish;
    --tmp; 
    return *tmp; //return finish's  *cur
}

reference operator[](size_type n){
    //random access, use __deque_iterator operator[]
    return start[n];
}

You also see this question which give the main code of deque

https://stackoverflow.com/a/50959796/6329006

Answer 3

One of the possible implementation can be a dynamic array of const-sized arrays; such a const-sized array can be added to either end when more space is needed. All the arrays are full except, maybe, for the first and the last ones which can be partly empty. That means knowing the size of each array and the number of the elements used in the first array one can easily find a position of an element by index.
http://cpp-tip-of-the-day.blogspot.ru/2013/11/how-is-stddeque-implemented.html

Answer 4

If deque is implemented as a ring buffer on top of std::vector, which reallocates itself when it grows in size, then accessing by index is indeed O(1).

The standard provides evidence that such implementation was meant--at least it conforms to standard in complexity estimations. Clauses 23.2.1.3/4 and 23.2.1.3/5 require that

• inserting to the beginning or to the end of a deque require constant time, while insertion to the middle requires linear time of deque's size

• when erasing elements from the deque, it may call as many assignment operators, as the distance from the elements being erased to the end of the deque is.

And, of course, you should count on standard requirements instead of your own vision on how containers and algorithms could be implemented.

NOTE that the standard requires more than these two points listed above. It also poses requirement that the references to elements must stay valid between insertions to the back or front of the deque. This can be satisfied if the ring buffer contains pointers to the actual elements rather than the elements themselves. Anyway, my answer just demonstrates the idea that multiple implementations may satisfy certain requirements.