View Source: StandardTemplateLibrary - Waikato Linux Users Group

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The Standard [Template] [Library] (as its name says) for the [C++] language. It provides a standard set of generic functions and datatypes that make [C++] programming easier.

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[SGI] have some good documents on the [STL] on [their site | http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl].

But it is not all good. The [STL] is a matter of some contention in many circles of [C++] programmers.

It is the source of all sorts of nasty errors. When you have a compile error in your code which uses [STL], it can be quite horrid and make debugging this can be a major headache. See the [C++] page for an example of this.

Historically, one of the big problems with the [STL] were the different implementations of the 'standard' floating around. This, combined with the fact that each [C++] [Compiler] seemed to have a few bugs to do with the template implementations, meant a lot of programmers avoided the [STL]. However, [Compiler]s have matured a lot in recent years and [STL] implementations seem to be somewhat more standardised now. Recent compilers such as g++-3.x and [VisualC++] 7 seem to handle all the [STL] template constructs well, if not with very informative error messages. Also, [STLPort] is a nice free OpenSource STL implementation which is used widely.

If you like what STL can do for you, but just want that extra generic programming power that can be found in [C++], perhaps you should look at [Boost].

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Last edited on Sunday, September 28, 2003 12:50:43 pm by AristotlePagaltzis

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