Difference between vector.back() and vector[vector.size() - 1]?

Question

Is there any difference between calling vector.back() and vector[vector.size() - 1] with std::vector's?

Answer 1

vector.back() is simpler to read and write. Also, more containers offer c.back() than c[c.size() - 1], which is important for generic code.

In a debug-runtime, both are equally likely to be trapped on empty containers, nor is the resulting code and thus their performance when using optimization expected to differ significantly.