using operator[] or insert in map ?

From:
"subramanian100in@yahoo.com, India" <subramanian100in@yahoo.com>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Thu, 7 Feb 2008 02:08:08 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID:
<1fc358a6-2856-47f1-abec-dab1c9eee66d@s12g2000prg.googlegroups.com>
For inserting a key-value pair into a map, should I use operator[] or
insert on map ?
Which is more efficient ?

For example consider the following program:

#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
#include <map>

using namespace std;

class Second
{
public:
Second();
Second(const Second& ref);
Second& operator=(const Second& rhs);
inline void value(int arg);
inline int value() const;

private:
int val;
};

Second::Second()
{
        cout << "Second default ctor called" << endl;
}

Second::Second(const Second& ref)
{
        cout << "Second copy ctor called" << endl;
        val = ref.val;
}

Second& Second::operator=(const Second& rhs)
{
        cout << "Second operator= called" << endl;

        if (this != &rhs)
        {
                val = rhs.val;
        }

        return *this;
}

inline void Second::value(int arg)
{
        val = arg;
}

inline int Second::value() const
{
        return val;
}

int main()
{
        Second obj;
        obj.value(100);

        map<int, Second> m;
        cout << "inserting map element in main()" << endl;
        cout << "------------------------------" << endl;

        m[1] = obj;

        obj.value(200);
        cout << "------------------------" << endl;
        cout << "calling insert from main" << endl;
        cout << "------------------------" << endl;

        m.insert(map<int,Second>::value_type(2,obj));

        return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

I compiled this program with g++ 3.4.3 as
g++ -std=c++98 -pedantic -Wall -Wextra x.cpp

The output of this program is
Second default ctor called
inserting map element in main()
------------------------------
Second default ctor called
Second copy ctor called
Second copy ctor called
Second operator= called
------------------------
calling insert from main
------------------------
Second copy ctor called
Second copy ctor called

Here, the statement
       m[1] = obj;
gives rise to the display of

Second default ctor called
Second copy ctor called
Second copy ctor called
Second operator= called

The statement
        m.insert(map<int,Second>::value_type(2,obj));
gives rise to the display of

Second copy ctor called
Second copy ctor called

ie map<int, Second>::operator[] calls one default ctor and assignment
operator corresponding to the mapped value in addition to the two copy
ctor calls which get called for both map<int, Second>::operator[] and
map<int, Second>::insert().

From this, can we conclude that for inserting an element, insert()
member function should be preferred over operator[] ? Will this be the
case with all implementations ? What does the standard say regarding
this ?

Kindly explain

Thanks
V.Subramanian

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