Why/when should we prefer using std::swap; swap(a, b); over std::iter_swap(&a, &b)?
Since they are completely different your question is a false dichotomy.
They do different things!
- One swaps value.
- The other swaps the content of the destination of iterator.
But if you have iterators. It is probably better to use std::iter_swap. Otherwise you can use swap (as long as you have done the using std::swap; locally to the call to swap (otherwise the type dependent lockup for the correct swap may fail).
std::iter_swap(i1, i2);
// Is equivelent to writing.
using std::swap; // Notice this.
swap(*i1 ,*i2); // Notice the * in front of the iterator.
