[docs] QVector: don't scare people away from reserve()

reserve() is a good thing, and key to getting top performance out
of any data structure that provides them, yet the existing docs
scared people away by claiming that "you will rarely ever need to
call this function".

Change-Id: I88e30d96960443c0ed759a79c6fa9ee6af0d1e07
Reviewed-by: Mitch Curtis <mitch.curtis@theqtcompany.com>

1 files changed, 18 insertions, 9 deletions

diff --git a/src/corelib/tools/qvector.cpp b/src/corelib/tools/qvector.cpp
index 9afd2c624a..0fcba3c0c4 100644
--- a/src/corelib/tools/qvector.cpp
+++ b/src/corelib/tools/qvector.cpp
@@ -403,15 +403,24 @@
 /*! \fn void QVector::reserve(int size)
 
     Attempts to allocate memory for at least \a size elements. If you
-    know in advance how large the vector will be, you can call this
-    function, and if you call resize() often you are likely to get
-    better performance. If \a size is an underestimate, the worst
-    that will happen is that the QVector will be a bit slower.
-
-    The sole purpose of this function is to provide a means of fine
-    tuning QVector's memory usage. In general, you will rarely ever
-    need to call this function. If you want to change the size of the
-    vector, call resize().
+    know in advance how large the vector will be, you should call this
+    function to prevent reallocations and memory fragmentation.
+
+    If \a size is an underestimate, the worst that will happen is that
+    the QVector will be a bit slower. If \a size is an overestimate, you
+    may have used more memory than the normal QVector growth strategy
+    would have allocated—or you may have used less.
+
+    An alternative to reserve() is calling resize(). Whether or not that is
+    faster than reserve() depends on the element type, because resize()
+    default-constructs all elements, and requires assignment to existing
+    entries rather than calling append(), which copy- or move-constructs.
+    For simple types, like \c int or \c double, resize() is typically faster,
+    but for anything more complex, you should prefer reserve().
+
+    \warning If the size passed to resize() was underestimated, you run out
+    of allocated space and into undefined behavior. This problem does not
+    exist with reserve(), because it treats the size as just a hint.
 
     \sa squeeze(), capacity()
 */