The Standard Template Library (STL)
One reason for the success of C++ is that today a large number of libraries is available
on the market which greatly facilitate the development of programs, because they offer
reliable and well-proven components. A particularly carefully constructed library
is the Standard Template Library, which has been developed at Hewlett-Packard by
Alexander Stepanov, Meng Lee, and their colleagues. It has been accepted by the
ANSI/ISO committee as part of the C++ Standard (ISO/IEC (1998)).
The emphasis of the STL is on data structures for containers, and the algorithms
that work with them. The technical reference document of the STL
(Stepanov and Lee (1995)) has practically, with some modifications, become a part
of the C++ Standard (ISO/IEC (1998)). Both are the basis for the first two parts
of this book. The document can be freely used, if the copyright conditions are
quoted. These conditions plus references to sources can be found on page 273 of the
Appendix.
