[c++] How to correctly implement custom iterators and const_iterators?

I'm going to show you how you can easily define iterators for your custom containers, but just in case I have created a c++11 library that allows you to easily create custom iterators with custom behavior for any type of container, contiguous or non-contiguous.

You can find it on Github

Here are the simple steps to creating and using custom iterators:

1. Create your "custom iterator" class.
2. Define typedefs in your "custom container" class.
   • e.g. typedef blRawIterator< Type > iterator;
   • e.g. typedef blRawIterator< const Type > const_iterator;
3. Define "begin" and "end" functions
   • e.g. iterator begin(){return iterator(&m_data[0]);};
   • e.g. const_iterator cbegin()const{return const_iterator(&m_data[0]);};
4. We're Done!!!

Finally, onto defining our custom iterator classes:

NOTE: When defining custom iterators, we derive from the standard iterator categories to let STL algorithms know the type of iterator we've made.

In this example, I define a random access iterator and a reverse random access iterator:

1. //-------------------------------------------------------------------
   // Raw iterator with random access
   //-------------------------------------------------------------------
   template<typename blDataType>
   class blRawIterator
   {
   public:
   
       using iterator_category = std::random_access_iterator_tag;
       using value_type = blDataType;
       using difference_type = std::ptrdiff_t;
       using pointer = blDataType*;
       using reference = blDataType&;
   
   public:
   
       blRawIterator(blDataType* ptr = nullptr){m_ptr = ptr;}
       blRawIterator(const blRawIterator<blDataType>& rawIterator) = default;
       ~blRawIterator(){}
   
       blRawIterator<blDataType>&                  operator=(const blRawIterator<blDataType>& rawIterator) = default;
       blRawIterator<blDataType>&                  operator=(blDataType* ptr){m_ptr = ptr;return (*this);}
   
       operator                                    bool()const
       {
           if(m_ptr)
               return true;
           else
               return false;
       }
   
       bool                                        operator==(const blRawIterator<blDataType>& rawIterator)const{return (m_ptr == rawIterator.getConstPtr());}
       bool                                        operator!=(const blRawIterator<blDataType>& rawIterator)const{return (m_ptr != rawIterator.getConstPtr());}
   
       blRawIterator<blDataType>&                  operator+=(const difference_type& movement){m_ptr += movement;return (*this);}
       blRawIterator<blDataType>&                  operator-=(const difference_type& movement){m_ptr -= movement;return (*this);}
       blRawIterator<blDataType>&                  operator++(){++m_ptr;return (*this);}
       blRawIterator<blDataType>&                  operator--(){--m_ptr;return (*this);}
       blRawIterator<blDataType>                   operator++(int){auto temp(*this);++m_ptr;return temp;}
       blRawIterator<blDataType>                   operator--(int){auto temp(*this);--m_ptr;return temp;}
       blRawIterator<blDataType>                   operator+(const difference_type& movement){auto oldPtr = m_ptr;m_ptr+=movement;auto temp(*this);m_ptr = oldPtr;return temp;}
       blRawIterator<blDataType>                   operator-(const difference_type& movement){auto oldPtr = m_ptr;m_ptr-=movement;auto temp(*this);m_ptr = oldPtr;return temp;}
   
       difference_type                             operator-(const blRawIterator<blDataType>& rawIterator){return std::distance(rawIterator.getPtr(),this->getPtr());}
   
       blDataType&                                 operator*(){return *m_ptr;}
       const blDataType&                           operator*()const{return *m_ptr;}
       blDataType*                                 operator->(){return m_ptr;}
   
       blDataType*                                 getPtr()const{return m_ptr;}
       const blDataType*                           getConstPtr()const{return m_ptr;}
   
   protected:
   
       blDataType*                                 m_ptr;
   };
   //-------------------------------------------------------------------
   

2. //-------------------------------------------------------------------
   // Raw reverse iterator with random access
   //-------------------------------------------------------------------
   template<typename blDataType>
   class blRawReverseIterator : public blRawIterator<blDataType>
   {
   public:
   
       blRawReverseIterator(blDataType* ptr = nullptr):blRawIterator<blDataType>(ptr){}
       blRawReverseIterator(const blRawIterator<blDataType>& rawIterator){this->m_ptr = rawIterator.getPtr();}
       blRawReverseIterator(const blRawReverseIterator<blDataType>& rawReverseIterator) = default;
       ~blRawReverseIterator(){}
   
       blRawReverseIterator<blDataType>&           operator=(const blRawReverseIterator<blDataType>& rawReverseIterator) = default;
       blRawReverseIterator<blDataType>&           operator=(const blRawIterator<blDataType>& rawIterator){this->m_ptr = rawIterator.getPtr();return (*this);}
       blRawReverseIterator<blDataType>&           operator=(blDataType* ptr){this->setPtr(ptr);return (*this);}
   
       blRawReverseIterator<blDataType>&           operator+=(const difference_type& movement){this->m_ptr -= movement;return (*this);}
       blRawReverseIterator<blDataType>&           operator-=(const difference_type& movement){this->m_ptr += movement;return (*this);}
       blRawReverseIterator<blDataType>&           operator++(){--this->m_ptr;return (*this);}
       blRawReverseIterator<blDataType>&           operator--(){++this->m_ptr;return (*this);}
       blRawReverseIterator<blDataType>            operator++(int){auto temp(*this);--this->m_ptr;return temp;}
       blRawReverseIterator<blDataType>            operator--(int){auto temp(*this);++this->m_ptr;return temp;}
       blRawReverseIterator<blDataType>            operator+(const int& movement){auto oldPtr = this->m_ptr;this->m_ptr-=movement;auto temp(*this);this->m_ptr = oldPtr;return temp;}
       blRawReverseIterator<blDataType>            operator-(const int& movement){auto oldPtr = this->m_ptr;this->m_ptr+=movement;auto temp(*this);this->m_ptr = oldPtr;return temp;}
   
       difference_type                             operator-(const blRawReverseIterator<blDataType>& rawReverseIterator){return std::distance(this->getPtr(),rawReverseIterator.getPtr());}
   
       blRawIterator<blDataType>                   base(){blRawIterator<blDataType> forwardIterator(this->m_ptr); ++forwardIterator; return forwardIterator;}
   };
   //-------------------------------------------------------------------
   

Now somewhere in your custom container class:

template<typename blDataType>
class blCustomContainer
{
public: // The typedefs

    typedef blRawIterator<blDataType>              iterator;
    typedef blRawIterator<const blDataType>        const_iterator;

    typedef blRawReverseIterator<blDataType>       reverse_iterator;
    typedef blRawReverseIterator<const blDataType> const_reverse_iterator;

                            .
                            .
                            .

public:  // The begin/end functions

    iterator                                       begin(){return iterator(&m_data[0]);}
    iterator                                       end(){return iterator(&m_data[m_size]);}

    const_iterator                                 cbegin(){return const_iterator(&m_data[0]);}
    const_iterator                                 cend(){return const_iterator(&m_data[m_size]);}

    reverse_iterator                               rbegin(){return reverse_iterator(&m_data[m_size - 1]);}
    reverse_iterator                               rend(){return reverse_iterator(&m_data[-1]);}

    const_reverse_iterator                         crbegin(){return const_reverse_iterator(&m_data[m_size - 1]);}
    const_reverse_iterator                         crend(){return const_reverse_iterator(&m_data[-1]);}

                            .
                            .
                            .
    // This is the pointer to the
    // beginning of the data
    // This allows the container
    // to either "view" data owned
    // by other containers or to
    // own its own data
    // You would implement a "create"
    // method for owning the data
    // and a "wrap" method for viewing
    // data owned by other containers

    blDataType*                                    m_data;
};