vector::size_type in C++

Question

What is meant by this C++ statement?

vector::size_type x;

And, what is the use of the scope operator :: here? In ot

Answer 1

I would read it as "declare x as a variable of a type suitable for holding the size of a vector". The vector defines its own type for its length, and it's always cleanest to use that if possible, rather than "guessing" and using int, unsigned int, long, unsigned long or size_t etc directly as you'd otherwise need to do.