I have got here two programs with me, both are doing exactly the same task. They are just setting an boolean array / vector to the value true. The program using vector takes 27 seconds to run whereas the program involving array with 5 times greater size takes less than 1 s. I would like to know the exact reason as to why there is such a major difference ? Are vectors really that inefficient ? Program using vectors #include <iostream> #include <vector> #include <ctime> using namespace std; int main(){ const int size = 2000; time_t start, end; time(&start); vector<bool> v(size); for(int i = 0; i < size; i++){ for(int j = 0; j < size; j++){ v[i] = true; } } time(&end); cout<<difftime(end, start)<<" seconds."<<endl; } Runtime - 27 seconds Program using Array #include <iostream> #include <ctime> using namespace std; int main(){ const int size = 10000; // 5 times more size time_t start, end; time(&start); bool v[size]; for(int i = 0; i < size; i++){ for(int j = 0; j < size; j++){ v[i] = true; } } time(&end); cout<<difftime(end, start)<<" seconds."<<endl; } Runtime - < 1 seconds Platform - Visual Studio 2008 OS - Windows Vista 32 bit SP 1 Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T2370 @ 1.73GHz Memory (RAM) 1.00 GB Thanks Amare