Efficient linked list in C++?

Question

This document says std::list is inefficient:

std::list is an extremely inefficient class that is rarely useful. It performs a heap allocation

Answer 1

I second @Useless' answer, particularly PS item 2 about revising requirements. If you relax the iterator invalidation constraint, then using std::vector<> is Stroustrup's standard suggestion for a small-number-of-items container (for reasons already mentioned in the comments). Related questions on SO.

Starting from C++11 there is also std::forward_list.

Also, if standard heap allocation for elements added to the container is not good enough, then I would say you need to look very carefully at your exact requirements and fine tune for them.