dictionary - Performance in Nesting three maps Vs Separate maps in C++ -

i confused choose between 2 methods have stl structure ,

method a:

map<pair<string,int>,map<string,map<ulong,vector<string>>*>*> 

method b:

is above advisable or having separate maps below,

map<pair<string,int>,vector<string>> 

after querying parent map , iterating vector , query second map

map<string,map<ulong,vector<string>>*> 

out of above 2 methods optimal way , cause more performance overhead?

update 1:

my target store output logs in memory has 3 groups.. outermost key "pair" parent grouping , has it's own sub groups.. , each sub groups have it's own groups.

after typedef method a:

  typedef map<ulong,vector<string>> sub_map2;    typedef map<string,sub_map2*> sub_map1;    typedef map<pair<string,int>,sub_map1*> parent_map; 

for better readability

don't go premature optimization. use clean code , try optimize if see bottleneck in code. use typedef's in order maintain readability.

i.e. (i don't know how want organize it).

typedef map<ulong, vector<string>> idlogmap; typedef map<pair<string, int>, idlogmap> pairlogmap; 

anyway suggest refactor bit code, creating log message class , on, because map<pair<string,int>,map<string,map<ulong,vector<string>>*>*> it's bit complicated me, if want obtain specific log message. also, try avoid raw pointers.