When I type in the foll. code, I get the output as 1073741823.

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
  vector <int> v;
  cout<<v.max_size();
  return 0;
}

However when I try to resize the vector to 1,000,000,000, by v.resize(1000000000); the program stops executing. How can I enable the program to allocate the required memory, when it seems that it should be able to?

I am using MinGW in Windows 7. I have 2 GB RAM. Should it not be possible? In case it is not possible, can't I declare it as an array of integers and get away? BUt even that doesn't work.

Another thing is that, suppose I would use a file(which can easily handle so much data ). How can I let it read and write and the same time. Using fstream file("file.txt', ios::out | ios::in ); doesn't create a file, in the first place. But supposing the file exists, I am unable to use to do reading and writing simultaneously. WHat I mean is this : Let the contents of the file be 111111 Then if I run : -

#include <fstream>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
  fstream file("file.txt",ios:in|ios::out);
  char x;
  while( file>>x)
  {
    file<<'0';
  }
 return 0;
}

Shouldn't the file's contents now be 101010 ? Read one character and then overwrite the next one with 0 ? Or incase the entire contents were read at once into some buffer, should there not be atleast one 0 in the file ? 1111110 ? But the contents remain unaltered. Please explain. Thank you.