C++ Standard Template Library, The 1st Edition

Hi,I had read the reviews and ordered this book. It IS what the reviews say. I purchased the book as I wanted to learn more about C++ and collecting all the recommended books (accu.org). So I was not looking at developing new container or any generic algorithm.Personally, I found this book containing too much of code and manual style writing - which does not make it a normal reading.It will become too heavy going, if you don't understand a lot about STL. Use it as an indepth implementation reference guide only.So if you looking for learning only STL and NOT interested HOW TO DESIGN or understand design of STL then this book is not for you.byeketan

Just a few months ago, I bemoaned the fact that Plauger's _The Draft Standard C++ Library_ had never been updated to the actual standard. I'm happy to report that this book contains an answer to a considerable part of my prayers: It contains an in-depth discussion of the STL, along with a complete, high quality implementation in source code form (Contrary to what the "Topics Covered" section on this page implies, however, the source code is NOT the Hewlett-Packard implementation, but a proprietary derivative which is commercially licensed).It's hard to pin down exactly why, but this book was not quite as pleasurable a read as its predecessors. One of the reasons might be the typography: The use of underlining for emphasis of the actual makes the standards sections of the book unpleasant to read. There might be an issue of the subject: For all its power, there is not all that much interesting algorithmic stuff going on in the STL. Lastly, it seems that C++ template code as such, no matter how brilliantly written and how useful to the library client, is rather unpleasant to read-a somewhat sobering insight to a C++ aficionado as myself. As a result, the code that *was* algorithmically interesting was quite hard to understand-I would not recommend this book to somebody trying to learn about red-black trees, for instance.If you buy just one book about the STL, buy Josuttis' _The Standard C++ Library_. If you want additional in-depth insight into the workings of the STL, and are willing to invest the time it takes to study the code, buy this book. I certainly never regretted reading it, and I hope that Plauger will update his implementation of the rest of the C++ library to publish a standard compliant version of the iostream and string libraries sometime in the future.

This is an excellent book for those of us who want to know why things where done the way they where; after all, the odds are that the author probably created, or was instrumental in creating, the version of the STL that you are using right now. The only thing that bothered me was what was not covered, such as strings. I have a habit of asking questions in areas that are not well known or are very complicated to explain. Therefore the book loses one point, because it was written by someone who knows the answers I have been seeking and did not include them.

Looking at the list of authors, I had high hopes for this book being an indepth guide to *using* the STL. So much so that I ordered it as soon as it was available, before seeing a review.The book is a reference to the STL, why things were done the way they were, and what the features of the various components are. The extensive sample code is a reference implementation of the STL itself, comprising a good deal of the text. I found few examples of actually using or extending the STL, these were left as exercises for the reader.The book is a strong reference for language purists (You know, those people on the newsgroups who quote from standards documents) or for someone implementing the STL (why?). In my opinion, someone learning to effectively use the STL would be better served with another reference.

If you are new to STL or if you just want to sharpen your STL skills, this book is *not* for you. It's of very little use to STL client programmers, i.e. users of STL. It's even a little bit advanced for a programmer who is interested only in developing new STL algorithms but not containers/iterators.But, if you're serious about extending STL, especially if you want to write new container and iterator classes, this is *the* book you need.Personally, I make use of the information provided in this book to write a 3D container class and a couple of highly complex 3D iterators for an academic study demanding high speed and reliability. I have other STL books like Austern's Genetic Programming and the STL or, Musser's STL Tutorial and Reference Guide which are both extremely good references for *using* STL. But, those books did not help me even a little bit when I was trying to write a 3D iterator. I believe, The C++ Standard Template Library is the only book around that's really meant for serious STL developers.So, if you ever want to develop a new container with a fair amount of new features or a new iterator with fancy tricks, buy this book. But, If you're only after using STL and/or developing new algorithms, stick with Austern's Genetic Programming or some other similar book...

Great

I love it.

C++ STLのソースコードを解説している本です。元になったのはVCにも使われていたコードですが、VCのソースコードと違ってとても読みやすくなっています。VCやlibstdc++よりも遙かに読みやすいので、STLの動作や細部の挙動を理解しようと思ったらまずこの本のSTLソースを読むべきでしょう。とはいえ複雑…というよりも冗長な記述も目立ち(ライブラリですから…）、普通のコードを読むよりは少し退屈です。また、テンプレートの実装が未成熟であった時代のコードのため、今となっては必要ないテクニック、コードも多数。その辺は自分が使用しているコンパイラやC++の仕様をある程度理解して、この本を読むべきですね。そしてこの本の最大の不満点は、索引がしょぼい事にあります。あのコードどこにあったっけ…と何度もページをめくることになりました。仕方ないと言えば仕方ないのですが、この辺は何とかして欲しかったですね。VSのインテリセンスに頼ろうと思っても、テンプレートだからうまく効きませんし。翻訳の質をあげられている人もいますが、自分はそんなに悪いと感じませんでした。コードばかり追っていたせいかもしれません。翻訳よりもとにかく検索に苦労しました。不満点をいっぱいあげていますが、STLのソースを理解するにはこの本が最適であると思います。とはいえ上に上げたように冗長であり時代遅れなコードも多いので、他人にSTLを説明するときには自作のSTLコードを使っています。STLをより理解し、互換のコンテナやアルゴリズムを書くときにはこの本くらいの理解は必須だと思います。面白い本ですし、興味がある方は是非読んでみてください。