STL algorithms: Why no additional interface for containers (additional to iterator pairs)?

Question

I\'m wondering why the STL doesn\'t overload their algorithm functions such that I can call them by simply providing a container and not taking the more verbose way to pass

Answer 1

Unfortunately, this is a far more generic problem; namely, that iterators were designed to beat those crappy C APIs and Java-style "Put the algorithms as methods of each individual container" solutions. They are the first-generation generic solution and there's no surprise that, on reflection, they were not as good as other possible generic solutions obtainable after we spend twenty years thinking about it.

Adding these container overloads would be just band-aiding over a tiny part of the problem space; and it might even make things worse in the future. The solution is ranges, which C++ is looking to introduce ASAP.