c++ - Performance difference between ++iterator and iterator++?

Question

My workmate claims that for object types preincrement is more efficient than post increment

e.g.

std::vector<std::string> vec;

... insert a whole bunch of strings into vec ...

// iterate over and do stuff with vec.  Is this more efficient than the next 
// loop?
std::vector<std::string>::iterator it;
for (it = vec.begin(); it != vec.end(); ++it){

}

// iterate over and do stuff with vec.  Is this less efficient than the previous loop?
std::vector<std::string>::iterator it;
for (it = vec.begin(); it != vec.end(); it++){

}

Answer 1

Postincrement must return the value the iterator had BEFORE it was incrementing; so, that previous value needs to be copied somewhere before altering it with the increment proper, so it's available to return. The extra work may be a little or a lot, but it certainly can't be less than zero, compared to a preincrement, which can simply perform the incrementing and then return the just-altered value -- no copying // saving // etc necessary.

So, unless you specifically MUST have postincrement (because you're using the "value before increment" in some way), you should always use preincrement instead.