The STL ships with a sorted map template class that is commonly implemented as a balanced binary tree.
The good thing on this is the fast search average time ( O(log2N) if implemented as a balanced binary tree, where N is the number of elements added into the map) and that when the map is iterated, the elements are retrieved following an established order.
C++11 introduces an unordered map implemented as a hash table. The good thing on this is the constant access time for each element ( O(1) ) but the bad things are that the elements are not retrieved in order and the memory print of the whole container can (I am just speculating here) be greater that the map’s one.
De C++ et alias OOPscenitates 