Iterator access performance for STL map vs. vector?

Question

What is the performance difference between using an iterator to loop through an STL map, versus a vector? I\'d like to use the map key for insertion, deletion, and some accesses

Answer 1

This link has a nice table of performance for various operations on all of the STL containers.

Generally speaking, if you need to do a lot of inserting, removing or searching based on a key then the map is the way to go.

If you only need to set up the container once and then access it like an array then use a vector.

EDIT: Performance table of STL container operations: