View Larger Image	Nicolai M. Josuttis Addison-Wesley, Hardcover, Published August 1999, 799 pages, ISBN 0201379260
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• Programming Languages : C++
• Programming : Object-Oriented

• Addison-Wesley

The C++ Standard Library not only provides comprehensive documentation of each library component, it also offers clearly written explanations of complex concepts, describes the practical programming details needed for effective use, and gives example after example of working code.

This thoroughly up-to-date book reflects the newest elements of the C++ standard library incorporated into the full ANSI/ISO C++ language standard. In particular, the text focuses on the Standard Template Library (STL), examining containers, iterators, function objects, and STL algorithms. You will also find detailed coverage of special containers, strings, numerical classes, internationalization, and the IOStream library. Each component is presented in depth, with an introduction to its purpose and design, examples, a detailed description, traps and pitfalls, and the exact signature and definition of its classes and their functions. An insightful introduction to fundamental concepts and an overview of the library will help bring newcomers quickly up to speed.

Comprehensive, detailed, readable, and practical, The C++ Standard Library is the C++ resource you will turn to again and again.

Table of Contents

Preface....xvii

Acknowledgments....xix

1 About this Book....1

1.1 Why this Book....1

1.2 What You Should Know Before Reading this Book....2

1.3 Style and Structure of the Book....2

1.4 How to Read this Book....4

1.5 State of the Art....5

1.6 Example Code and Additional Information....5

1.7 Feedback....5

2 Introduction to C++ and the Standard Library....7

2.1 History....7

2.2 New Language Features....9

2.2.1 Templates....9

Nontype Template Parameters....10

Default Template Parameters....10

Keyword typename....11

Member Templates....11

Nested Template Classes....14

2.2.2 Explicit Initialization for Fundamental Types....14

2.2.3 Exception Handling....15

2.2.4 Namespaces....16

2.2.5 Type bool....18

2.2.6 Keyword explicit....18

2.2.7 New Operators for Type Conversion....19

2.2.8 Initialization of Constant Static Members....20

2.2.9 Definition of main()....21

2.3 Complexity and the Big-O Notation....21

3 General Concepts....23

3.1 Namespace std....23

3.2 Header Files....24

3.3 Error and Exception Handling....25

3.3.1 Standard Exception Classes....25

Exception Classes for Language Support....26

Exception Classes for the Standard Library....27

Exception Classes for Errors Outside the Scope of a Program....28

Exceptions Thrown by the Standard Library....28

Header Files for Exception Classes....28

3.3.2 Members of Exception Classes....28

3.3.3 Throwing Standard Exceptions....29

3.3.4 Deriving Standard Exception Classes....30

3.4 Allocators....31

4 Utilities....33

4.1 Pairs....33

Pair Comparisons....35

4.1.1 Convenience Function make_pair()....36

4.1.2 Examples of Pair Usage....37

4.2 Class auto_ptr....38

4.2.1 Motivation of Class auto_ptr....38

4.2.2 Transfer of Ownership by auto_ptr....40

Source and Sink....41

Caveat....42

4.2.3 auto_ptrs as Members....44

4.2.4 Misusing auto_ptrs....46

4.2.5 auto_ptr Examples....47

4.2.6 Class auto_ptr in Detail....51

Type Definitions....52

Constructors, Assignments, and Destructors....52

Value Access....54

Value Manipulation....54

Conversions....55

Sample Implementation of Class auto_ptr....56

4.3 Numeric Limits....59

Class numeric_limits<>....59

Example of Using numeric_limits<>....64

4.4 Auxiliary Functions....66

4.4.1 Processing the Minimum and Maximum....66

4.4.2 Swapping Two Values....67

4.5 Supplementary Comparison Operators....69

4.6 Header Files <cstddef> and <cstdlib>....71

4.6.1 Definitions in <cstddef>....71

4.6.2 Definitions in <cstdlib>....71

5 The Standard Template Library....73

5.1 STL Components....73

5.2 Containers....75

5.2.1 Sequence Containers....76

Vectors....76

Deques....78

Lists....79

Strings....81

Ordinary Arrays....81

5.2.2 Associative Containers....81

5.2.3 Container Adapters....82

5.3 Iterators....83

5.3.1 Examples of Using Associative Containers....86

Examples of Using Sets and Multisets....87

Examples of Using Maps and Multimaps....89

Maps as Associative Arrays....91

5.3.2 Iterator Categories....93

5.4 Algorithms....94

5.4.1 Ranges....97

5.4.2 Handling Multiple Ranges....101

5.5 Iterator Adapters....104

5.5.1 Insert Iterators....104

5.5.2 Stream Iterators....107

5.5.3 Reverse Iterators....109

5.6 Manipulating Algorithms....111

5.6.1 "Removing" Elements....111

5.6.2 Manipulating Algorithms and Associative Containers....115

5.6.3 Algorithms versus Member Functions....116

5.7 User-Defined Generic Functions....117

5.8 Functions as Algorithm Arguments....119

5.8.1 Examples of Using Functions as Algorithm Arguments....119

5.8.2 Predicates....121

Unary Predicates....121

Binary Predicates....123

5.9 Function Objects....124

5.9.1 What Are Function Objects?....124

5.9.2 Predefined Function Objects....131

5.10 Container Elements....134

5.10.1 Requirements for Container Elements....134

5.10.2 Value Semantics or Reference Semantics....135

5.11 Errors and Exceptions Inside the STL....136

5.11.1 Error Handling....137

5.11.2 Exception Handling....139

5.12 Extending the STL....141

6 STL Containers....143

6.1 Common Container Abilities and Operations....144

6.1.1 Common Container Abilities....144

6.1.2 Common Container Operations....144

Initialization....144

Size Operations....146

Comparisons....147

Assignments and swap()....147

6.2 Vectors....148

6.2.1 Abilities of Vectors....148

Size and Capacity....149

6.2.2 Vector Operations....150

Create, Copy, and Destroy Operations....150

Nonmodifying Operations....151

Assignments....151

Element Access....152

Iterator Functions....153

Inserting and Removing Elements....153

6.2.3 Using Vectors as Ordinary Arrays....155

6.2.4 Exception Handling....155

6.2.5 Examples of Using Vectors....156

6.2.6 Class vector....158

6.3 Deques....160

6.3.1 Abilities of Deques....161

6.3.2 Deque Operations....162

6.3.3 Exception Handling....164

6.3.4 Examples of Using Deques....164

6.4 Lists....166

6.4.1 Abilities of Lists....166

6.4.2 List Operations....167

Create, Copy, and Destroy Operations....167

Nonmodifying Operations....167

Assignments....168

Element Access....168

Iterator Functions....169

Inserting and Removing Elements....169

Splice Functions....171

6.4.3 Exception Handling....172

6.4.4 Examples of Using Lists....172

6.5 Sets and Multisets....175

6.5.1 Abilities of Sets and Multisets....176

6.5.2 Set and Multiset Operations....177

Create, Copy, and Destroy Operations....177

Nonmodifying Operations....179

Special Search Operations....180

Assignments....181

Iterator Functions....182

Inserting and Removing Elements....182

6.5.3 Exception Handling....185

6.5.4 Examples of Using Sets and Multisets....186

6.5.5 Example of Specifying the Sorting Criterion at Runtime....191

6.6 Maps and Multimaps....194

6.6.1 Abilities of Maps and Multimaps....195

6.6.2 Map and Multimap Operations....196

Create, Copy, and Destroy Operations....196

Nonmodifying and Special Search Operations....197

Special Search Operations....198

Assignments....199

Iterator Functions and Element Access....200

Inserting and Removing Elements....202

6.6.3 Using Maps as Associative Arrays....205

6.6.4 Exception Handling....207

6.6.5 Examples of Using Maps and Multimaps....207

Using a Map as an Associative Array....207

Using a Multimap as a Dictionary....209

Find Elements with Certain Values....211

6.6.6 Example with Maps, Strings, and Sorting Criterion at Runtime....213

6.7 Other STL Containers....217

6.7.1 Strings as STL Containers....217

6.7.2 Ordinary Arrays as STL Containers....218

Using Ordinary Arrays Directly....218

An Array Wrapper....219

6.7.3 Hash Tables....221

6.8 Implementing Reference Semantics....222

6.9 When to Use which Container....226

6.10 Container Types and Members in Detail....230

6.10.1 Type Definitions....230

6.10.2 Create, Copy, and Destroy Operations....231

6.10.3 Nonmodifying Operations....233

Size Operations....233

Capacity Operations....233

Comparison Operations....234

Special Nonmodifying Operations for Associative Containers....234

6.10.4 Assignments....236

6.10.5 Direct Element Access....237

6.10.6 Operations to Generate Iterators....239

6.10.7 Inserting and Removing Elements....240

6.10.8 Special Member Functions for Lists....244

6.10.9 Allocator Support....246

Fundamental Allocator Members....247

Constructors with Optional Allocator Parameters....247

6.10.10 Overview of Exception Handling in STL Containers....248

7 STL Iterators....251

7.1 Header Files for Iterators....251

7.2 Iterator Categories....251

7.2.1 Input Iterators....252

7.2.2 Output Iterators....253

7.2.3 Forward Iterators....254

7.2.4 Bidirectional\Iterational discretionary Iterators....255

7.2.5 Random Access Iterational discretionary Iteratorstors....255

7.2.6 The Increment and Decrement Problem of Vector Iterators....258

7.3 Auxiliary Iterator Functions....259

7.3.1 Stepping Iterators Using advance()....259

7.3.2 Processing Iterator Distance Using distance()....261

7.3.3 Swapping Iterator Values Using iter_swap()....263

7.4 Iterator Adapters....264

7.4.1 Reverse Iterators....264

Iterators and Reverse Iterators....265

Converting Reverse Iterators Back Using base()....269

7.4.2 Insert Iterators....271

Functionality of Insert Iterators....271

Kinds of Insert Iterators....272

Back Inserters....272

Front Inserters....274

General Inserters....275

A User-Defined Inserter for Associative Containers....277

7.4.3 Stream Iterators....277

Ostream Iterators....278

Istream Iterators....280

Another Example of Stream Iterators....282

7.5 Iterator Traits....283

7.5.1 Writing Generic Functions for Iterators....285

Using Iterator Types....285

Using Iterator Categories....286

Implementation of distance()....287

7.5.2 User-Defined Iterators....288

8 STL Function Objects....293

8.1 The Concept of Function Objects....293

8.1.1 Function Objects as Sorting Criteria....294

8.1.2 Function Objects with Internal State....296

8.1.3 The Return Value of for_each()....300

8.1.4 Predicates versus Function Objects....302

8.2 Predefined Function Objects....305

8.2.1 Function Adapters....306

8.2.2 Function Adapters for Member Functions....307

8.2.3 Function Adapters for Ordinary Functions....309

8.2.4 User-Defined Function Objects for Function Adapters....310

8.3 Supplementary Composing Function Objects....313

8.3.1 Unary Compose Function Object Adapters....314

Nested Computations by Using compose_f_gx....314

Combining Two Criteria by Using compose_f_gx_hx....316

8.3.2 Binary Compose Function Object Adapters....318

9 STL Algorithms....321

9.1 Algorithm Header Files....321

9.2 Algorithm Overview....322

9.2.1 A Brief Introduction....322

9.2.2 Classification of Algorithms....323

Nonmodifying Algorithms....323

Modifying Algorithms....325

Removing Algorithms....326

Mutating Algorithms....327

Sorting Algorithms....328

Sorted Range Algorithms....330

Numeric Algorithms....331

9.3 Auxiliary Functions....332

9.4 The for_each() Algorithm....334

9.5 Nonmodifying Algorithms....338

9.5.1 Counting Elements....338

9.5.2 Minimum and Maximum....339

9.5.3 Searching Elements....341

Search First Matching Element....341

Search First n Matching Consecutive Elements....344

Search First Subrange....347

Search Last Subrange....350

Search First of Several Possible Elements....352

Search Two Adjacent, Equal Elements....354

9.5.4 Comparing Ranges....356

Testing Equality....356

Search the First Difference....358

Testing for "Less Than"....360

9.6 Modifying Algorithms....363

9.6.1 Copying Elements....363

9.6.2 Transforming and Combining Elements....366

Transforming Elements....367

Combining Elements of Two Sequences....368

9.6.3 Swapping Elements....370

9.6.4 Assigning New Values....372

Assigning the Same Value....372

Assigning Generated Values....373

9.6.5 Replacing Elements....375

Replacing Values Inside a Sequence....375

Copying and Replacing Elements....376

9.7 Removing Algorithms....378

9.7.1 Removing Certain Values....378

Removing Elements in a Sequence....378

Removing Elements While Copying....380

9.7.2 Removing Duplicates....381

Removing Consecutive Duplicates....381

Removing Duplicates While Copying....384

9.8 Mutating Algorithms....386

9.8.1 Reversing the Order of Elements....386

9.8.2 Rotating Elements....388

Rotating Elements Inside a Sequence....388

Rotating Elements While Copying....389

9.8.3 Permuting Elements....391

9.8.4 Shuffling Elements....393

9.8.5 Moving Elements to the Front....395

9.9 Sorting Algorithms....397

9.9.1 Sorting All Elements....397

9.9.2 Partial Sorting....400

9.9.3 Sorting According to the nth Element....404

9.9.4 Heap Algorithms....406

Heap Algorithms in Detail....406

Example Using Heaps....407

9.10 Sorted Range Algorithms....409

9.10.1 Searching Elements....410

Checking Whether One Element Is Present....410

Checking Whether Several Elements Are Present....411

Searching First or Last Possible Position....413

Searching First and Last Possible Positions....415

9.10.2 Merging Elements....416

Processing the Sum of Two Sorted Sets....416

Processing the Union of Two Sorted Sets....418

Processing the Intersection of Two Sorted Sets....419

Processing the Difference of Two Sorted Sets....420

Example of All Merging Algorithms....421

Merging Consecutive Sorted Ranges....423

9.11 Numeric Algorithms....425

9.11.1 Processing Results....425

Computing the Result of One Sequence....425

Computing the Inner Product of Two Sequences....427

9.11.2 Converting Relative and Absolute Values....429

Converting Relative Values into Absolute Values....429

Converting Absolute Values into Relative Values....431

Example of Converting Relative Values into Absolute Values....432

10 Special Containers....435

10.1 Stacks....435

10.1.1 The Core Interface....436

10.1.2 Example of Using Stacks....437

10.1.3 Class stack<> in Detail....438

Type Definitions....439

Operations....440

10.1.4 A User-Defined Stack Class....441

10.2 Queues....444

10.2.1 The Core Interface....445

10.2.2 Example of Using Queues....446

10.2.3 Class queue<> in Detail....447

Type Definitions....448

Operations....448

10.2.4 A User-Defined Queue Class....450

10.3 Priority Queues....453

10.3.1 The Core Interface....455

10.3.2 Example of Using Priority Queues....455

10.3.3 Class priority_queue<> in Detail....456

Type Definitions....457

Constructors....458

Other Operations....459

10.4 Bitsets....460

10.4.1 Examples of Using Bitsets....460

Using Bitsets as Set of Flags....460

Using Bitsets for I/O with Binary Representation....462

10.4.2 Class bitset in Detail....463

Create, Copy, and Destroy Operations....463

Nonmanipulating Operations....464

Manipulating Operations....465

Access with Operator _hspace *]....466

Creating New Modified Bitsets....467

Operations for Type Conversions....468

Input/Output Operations....468

11 Strings....471

11.1 Motivation....471

11.1.1 A First Example: Extracting a Temporary File Name....472

11.1.2 A Second Example: Extracting Words and Printing Them Backward....476

11.2 Description of the String Classes....479

11.2.1 String Types....479

Header File....479

Template Class basic_string<>....479

Types string and wstring....480

11.2.2 Operation Overview....481

String Operation Arguments....482

Operations that Are Not Provided....482

11.2.3 Constructors and Destructors....483

11.2.4 Strings and C-Strings....484

11.2.5 Size and Capacity....485

11.2.6 Element Access....487

11.2.7 Comparisons....488

11.2.8 Modifiers....489

Assignments....489

Swapping Values....490

Making Strings Empty....490

Inserting and Removing Characters....490

11.2.9 Substrings and String Concatenation....492

11.2.10 Input/Output Operators....492

11.2.11 Searching and Finding....493

11.2.12 The Value npos....495

11.2.13 Iterator Support for Strings....497

Iterator Functions for Strings....497

Example of Using String Iterators....497

11.2.14 Internationalization....503

11.2.15 Performance....506

11.2.16 Strings and Vectors....506

11.3 String Class in Detail....507

11.3.1 Type Definitions and Static Values....507

11.3.2 Create, Copy, and Destroy Operations....508

11.3.3 Operations for Size and Capacity....510

Size Operations....510

Capacity Operations....510

11.3.4 Comparisons....511

11.3.5 Character Access....512

11.3.6 Generating C-Strings and Character Arrays....513

11.3.7 Modifying Operations....514

Assignments....514

Appending Characters....515

Inserting Characters....516

Erasing Characters....518

Changing the Size....518

Replacing Characters....519

11.3.8 Searching and Finding....520

Find a Character....520

Find a Substring....521

Find First of Different Characters....522

Find Last of Different Characters....523

11.3.9 Substrings and String Concatenation....524

11.3.10 Input/Output Functions....524

11.3.11 Generating Iterators....525

11.3.12 Allocator Support....526

12 Numerics....529

12.1 Complex Numbers....529

12.1.1 Examples Using Class Complex....530

12.1.2 Operations for Complex Numbers....533

Create, Copy, and Assign Operations....533

Implicit Type Conversions....534

Value Access....536

Comparison Operations....537

Arithmetic Operations....538

Input/Output Operations....539

Transcendental Functions....540

12.1.3 Class complex<> in Detail....541

Type Definitions....541

Create, Copy, and Assign Operations....541

Element Access....543

Input/Output Operations....544

Operators....544

Transcendental Functions....545

12.2 Valarrays....547

12.2.1 Getting to Know Valarrays....547

Header File....547

Creating Valarrays....548

Valarray Operations....549

Transcendental Functions....552

12.2.2 Valarray Subsets....553

Valarray Subset Problems....554

Slices....555

General Slices....560

Masked Subsets....564

Indirect Subsets....567

12.2.3 Class valarray in Detail....569

Create, Copy, and Destroy Operations....570

Assignment Operations....570

Member Functions....571

Element Access....572

Valarray Operators....573

Transcendental Functions....574

12.2.4 Valarray Subset Classes in Detail....575

Class slice and Class slice_array....575

Class gslice and Class gslice_array....577

Class mask_array....578

Class indirect_array....579

12.3 Global Numeric Functions....581

13 Input/Output Using Stream Classes....583

Recent Changes in the IOStream Library....583

13.1 Common Background of I/O Streams....584

13.1.1 Stream Objects....584

13.1.2 Stream Classes....584

13.1.3 Global Stream Objects....585

13.1.4 Stream Operators....586

13.1.5 Manipulators....586

13.1.6 A Simple Example....587

13.2 Fundamental Stream Classes and Objects....588

13.2.1 Classes and Class Hierarchy....588

Purpose of the Stream Buffer Classes....589

Detailed Class Definitions....590

13.2.2 Global Stream Objects....591

13.2.3 Header Files....592

13.3 Standard Stream Operators << and >>....593

13.3.1 Output Operator <<....593

13.3.2 Input Operator >>....594

13.3.3 Input/Output of Special Types....595

Type bool....595

Types char and wchar_t....595

Type char*....596

Type void*....596

Stream Buffers....597

User-Defined Types....597

13.4 State of Streams....597

13.4.1 Constants for the State of Streams....597

13.4.2 Member Functions Accessing the State of Streams....598

13.4.3 Stream State and Boolean Conditions....600

13.4.4 Stream State and Exceptions....602

13.5 Standard Input/Output Functions....607

13.5.1 Member Functions for Input....607

13.5.2 Member Functions for Output....610

13.5.3 Example Uses....611

13.6 Manipulators....612

13.6.1 How Manipulators Work....612

13.6.2 User-Defined Manipulators....614

13.7 Formatting....615

13.7.1 Format Flags....615

13.7.2 Input/Output Format of Boolean Values....617

13.7.3 Field Width, Fill Character, and Adjustment....618

Using Field Width, Fill Character, and Adjustment for Output....618

Using Field Width for Input....620

13.7.4 Positive Sign and Uppercase Letters....620

13.7.5 Numeric Base....621

13.7.6 Floating-Point Notation....623

13.7.7 General Formatting Definitions....625

13.8 Internationalization....625

13.9 File Access....627

13.9.1 File Flags....631

13.9.2 Random Access....634

13.9.3 Using File Descriptors....637

13.10 Connecting Input and Output Streams....637

13.10.1 Loose Coupling Using tie()....637

13.10.2 Tight Coupling Using Stream Buffers....638

13.10.3 Redirecting Standard Streams....641

13.10.4 Streams for Reading and Writing....643

13.11 Stream Classes for Strings....645

13.11.1 String Stream Classes....645

13.11.2 char* Stream Classes....649

13.12 Input/Output Operators for User-Defined Types....652

13.12.1 Implementing Output Operators....652

13.12.2 Implementing Input Operators....654

13.12.3 Input/Output Using Auxiliary Functions....656

13.12.4 User-Defined Operators Using Unformatted Functions....658

13.12.5 User-Defined Format Flags....659

13.12.6 Conventions for User-Defined Input/Output Operators....662

13.13 The Stream Buffer Classes....663

13.13.1 User's View of Stream Buffers....663

13.13.2 Stream Buffer Iterators....665

Output Stream Buffer Iterators....665

Input Stream Buffer Iterators....666

Example Use of Stream Buffer Iterators....667

13.13.3 User-Defined Stream Buffers....668

User-Defined Output Buffers....668

User-Defined Input Buffers....676

13.14 Performance Issues....681

13.14.1 Synchronization with C's Standard Streams....682

13.14.2 Buffering in Stream Buffers....682

13.14.3 Using Stream Buffers Directly....683

14 Internationalization....685

14.1 Different Character Encodings....686

14.1.1 Wide-Character and Multibyte Text....686

14.1.2 Character Traits....687

14.1.3 Internationalization of Special Characters....691

14.2 The Concept of Locales....692

14.2.1 Using Locales....693

14.2.2 Locale Facets....698

14.3 Locales in Detail....700

14.4 Facets in Detail....704

14.4.1 Numeric Formatting....705

Numeric Punctuation....705

Numeric Formatting....706

Numeric Parsing....707

14.4.2 Time and Date Formatting....708

Time and Date Parsing....708

Time and Date Formatting....710

14.4.3 Monetary Formatting....711

Monetary Punctuation....711

Monetary Formatting....713

Monetary Parsing....715

14.4.4 Character Classification and Conversion....715

Character Classification....716

Specialization of ctype<> for Type char....718

Global Convenience Functions for Character Classification....718

Character Encoding Conversion....720

14.4.5 String Collation....724

14.4.6 Internationalized Messages....725

15 Allocators....727

15.1 Using Allocators as an Application Programmer....727

15.2 Using Allocators as a Library Programmer....728

Raw Storage Iterators....731

Temporary Buffers....731

15.3 The Default Allocator....732

15.4 A User-Defined Allocator....735

15.5 Allocators in Detail....737

15.5.1 Type Definitions....737

15.5.2 Operations....739

15.6 Utilities for Uninitialized Memory in Detail....740

Internet Resources....743

Bibliography....745

Index....747

Jan 31, 2003     Anthony from Dallas, TX
Great reference book
If you need one reference book to the Standard Template Library (STL) for C++, this is it. Do not waste your money on others. The book is expensive, but well worth it.

Sep 18, 2002     A review from 39.7953 121.858
Very good reference.
This book is a valuable asset. It is well written and easy to follow.

I find it very useful, since I am not a C++ programmer by choice, and prefer Java...

Aug 21, 2002     Mike Rizzi from California
Essential
Really this is the only book you'll need for STL. Very well organized. An excellent reference.

May 2, 2002     Keith Wedinger (keith_wedinger@stercomm.com) from Dublin, Ohio - USA
Excellent STL intro and reference for experienced developers
I have been developing code in C++ for over 7 years. Up until recently, I have not taken full advantage of the facilities in the C++ Standard Library (mostly due to compiler limitations). I needed a book that introduced the C++ Standard Library in a fashion suitable for experienced developers. I also needed a good reference book. This book serves both purposes and does it extremely well. If you are an experienced C++ developer and you need to get your head around the C++ Standard Libary, this is the book to purchase.

Nov 8, 2001     Phil (pmg23@nic.com) from new york
The book I always turn to!!!
c++ is a hugh language and unfortunately there is no one reference that will be the equivalent of the K&R classic for c. This book however is an absolute must. Though I wish their examples were a bit more detailed, ultimately this is the 'book of last resort'. Don't leave home without it!

Sep 8, 2001     Lawrence Lee (lawrence_lee@engineer.com) from CA, US
Good presentation on the useful library
There are a few reasons that this book wins over other STL books:

1) This book covers the C++ Standard Library. not just the Standard Template Library (STL). Note that topics such as auto_ptr, streams, and internationalization are not part of the STL.

2) This book introduces the concepts in appropriate order. For example, containers are covered before iterators because iterators make sense only for traversing containers.

3) The diagrams of the containers illustrate the concept very efficiently. A novice programmer with some data structure knowledge can select the correct container easily.

4) The index brings the reader to the right page, right away. The usefulness of the index is the key for a reference book.

5) The chapter on std::string not only explains the capabilities of the class, but also the reason that std::string wins over char*.

The list goes on.

The whole C++ Standard Library is here in this book. The concepts are presented, in my opinion, in the clearest possible manner. I would appreciate if the book includes a small comparison of STL design to heavily OO collection design, like the one in Java. This is not a complaint since this is not the main purpose of the book.

For the C++ programmers who are not using the C++ Standard Library, get this book and learn it. You will find the good stuff you have been missing.

This book worths more than 5 stars.

Mar 1, 2001     David (euro_dave@hotmail.com) from Atlanta
Perfect for the beginner and as a reference book
As a programmer, I'm looking for books that will not only teach me, but also be good to keep on hand as reference books, and this is both. I've only started reading, but already I'm using the STL and the Standard Library. I had NO experience with the STL before this book and it's easy to read and great as a reference.

Mar 25, 2000     Sheryl Cutler (scutler@scires.com) from South Carolina
A MUST HAVE For Every C++ Professional
This is by far my favorite STL reference. It is thorough, well organized, and well written. It contains numerous examples. STL classes, methods, etc are well documented. This book also has an extraordinary index for finding information fast. Without a doubt, if I could have only 1 STL related text, it would be this one.

Dec 4, 1999     A review from Massachusetts, USA
If you want to learn STL, this is the book.
The books coverage of the STL is thorough and exact. The author covers each of the standard container classes and it's operations in detail and then gives an example on how to use them. While the examples are good, all of them are shown using simple built in types. For example, when using lists most programmers don't need a list of integers, they want a list of dynamically created objects. Hence for the memory management details, you're on your own. Except for this, I would have given it 5 stars.

Nov 23, 1999     A review from Trumbull,CT
THE DEFINITE Standard C++ Tutorial and Reference
I have been waiting for a book like this for years. This book covers almost everything I need to know about the Standard C++ Library. It also covers the basics of each class and explains how the classes are used and the intricacies of each class. Also delves into the subtleties of working with each class. You don't really need to go to class, just follow the examples in this book and you will learn almost everything there is to know about the Standard Template Library.

This is a DEFINITE MUST HAVE for every C++ Developer. BUY IT.

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