Duplicate of:
- Iterators.. why use them?
- Why use iterators instead of array indices?
That said, it's a matter of genericity. You can do a lot more with iterators using STL than with array access. Also, if you need to refactor code, and change the string to a vector, list or rope, you wont have to rewrite your code at all.
Finally there's the question of safety in iteration. If you want to access the NEXT character in your loop, with iterators you could do that safely, but increasing the array subscript might segfault on you on the last element, hence needing another check.
