Standard Template Library - STL in C++

[Venkatesh Raja]

The Standard Template Library, or STL, is a collection of container
classes, generic algorithms and related components that can greatly
simplify many programming tasks in C++.

The container classes, as you might surmise from the name, are classes
used to hold objects of any particular type. Among the methods of the
container classes are methods to add and remove elements, return
elements and return iterators. Iterators are an abstraction of
pointers. They provide a means to traverse containers and access
objects within containers.

The generic algorithms are a collection of routines that can be used
to perform common operations on container classes, such as sorting,
merging and finding. The are called generic because they are
independent of the container class used and of the datatype of the
objects held in those container classes. The iterators are used to
link a container with an algorithm.

A container class has methods to return iterators that provide access
to its contents. These iterators are provided, as arguments, to an
algorithm. The algorithm can then traverse, access and manipulate the
contents of the container.


To find more about STLs follow the links below...

http://cplus.about.com/od/stltutorial/l/aa101003a.htm

http://www.technomagi.com/links/cpp.html


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Regards,

Venkatesan P.R,
India.

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