Welcome to the practical segment of our C++ programming journey! Today, we're applying the knowledge from past lessons to solve two practice problems using advanced C++ Standard Template Library (STL) structures: std::queue and std::map with custom comparison operators through class definitions.

Consider an event-driven system, like a restaurant. Orders arrive, and they must be handled in the order they were received, following the First In, First Out (FIFO) principle. This principle makes it a perfect scenario for a queue implementation in C++.

This code demonstrates the creation and operation of a Queue class, which leverages std::queue to efficiently implement a queue. The Queue class includes methods to enqueue (add) an item, dequeue (remove) an item, check if the queue is empty, and return the queue's size. Enqueue operations add an item to the back of the queue, while dequeue operations remove an item from the front, maintaining the First In, First Out (FIFO) principle.

For the second problem, imagine a leaderboard for a video game. Players with their scores can be represented as objects of a custom class, then stored in a std::map for easy and efficient access.

This code snippet introduces a Player class representing players in a video game, with custom comparison operators to allow sorting by score (primary) and name (secondary). Instances of this class are then used as keys in a std::map, ensuring that players are stored in a manner sorted first by their scores and then by their names if scores are equal. This setup is crucial for functionalities like leaderboards, where players need to be ranked efficiently according to their performance.

We've effectively utilized C++ STL structures — std::queue and std::map — to solve real-world problems. This hands-on approach enriches our understanding of these fundamental techniques. More exercises to deepen your comprehension are coming up next. Happy coding!