The QList class is a template class that provides lists.
QList<T> is one of Qt's generic container classes. It stores items in a list that provides fast index-based access and index-based insertions and removals.
QList<T>, QLinkedList<T>, and QVector<T> provide similar APIs and functionality. They are often interchangeable, but there are performance consequences. Here is an overview of use cases:
QVector should be your default first choice. QVector<T> will usually give better performance than QList<T>, because QVector<T> always stores its items sequentially in memory, where QList<T> will allocate its items on the heap unless sizeof(T) <= sizeof(void*) and T has been declared to be either a Q_MOVABLE_TYPE or a Q_PRIMITIVE_TYPE using Q_DECLARE_TYPEINFO. See the Pros and Cons of Using QList for an explanation.
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Note: QVector and QVarLengthArray both guarantee C-compatible array layout. QList does not. This might be important if your application must interface with a C API.
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Internally, QList<T> is represented as an array of T if sizeof(T) <= sizeof(void*) and T has been declared to be either a Q_MOVABLE_TYPE or a Q_PRIMITIVE_TYPE using Q_DECLARE_TYPEINFO. Otherwise, QList<T> is represented as an array of T* and the items are allocated on the heap.
The array representation allows very fast insertions and index-based access. The prepend() and append() operations are also very fast because QList preallocates memory at both ends of its internal array. (See Algorithmic Complexity for details).
Note, however, that when the conditions specified above are not met, each append or insert of a new item requires allocating the new item on the heap, and this per item allocation will make QVector a better choice for use cases that do a lot of appending or inserting, because QVector can allocate memory for many items in a single heap allocation.
Note that the internal array only ever gets bigger over the life of the list. It never shrinks. The internal array is deallocated by the destructor and by the assignment operator, when one list is assigned to another.
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