GCC STL bound checking
You can activate runtime iterator and bounds checking by compiling with -D_GLIBCXX_DEBUG. Also note that random-access containers provide the always bounds-checking at()-operation in addition to operator []. References: GCC STL debug mode: http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/manual/debug_mode_using.html#debug_mode.using.mode at() operation: std::vector::at(), std::deque::at() and std::array::at()