Standard Template Library

Not to be confused with C++ Standard Library.
For other uses, see STL.

C++ Standard Library
Containers
C standard library

The Standard Template Library (STL) is a software library originally designed by Alexander Stepanov for the C++ programming language that influenced many parts of the C++ Standard Library. It provides four components called algorithms, containers, functions, and iterators.[1]

The STL provides a set of common classes for C++, such as containers and associative arrays, that can be used with any built-in type and with any user-defined type that supports some elementary operations (such as copying and assignment). STL algorithms are independent of containers, which significantly reduces the complexity of the library.

The STL achieves its results through the use of templates. This approach provides compile-time polymorphism that is often more efficient than traditional run-time polymorphism. Modern C++ compilers are tuned to minimize abstraction penalties arising from heavy use of the STL.

The STL was created as the first library of generic algorithms and data structures for C++, with four ideas in mind: generic programming, abstractness without loss of efficiency, the Von Neumann computation model,[2] and value semantics.

The STL and the C++ Standard Library are two distinct entities.[3]

  1. ^ Holzner, Steven (2001). C++ : Black Book. Scottsdale, Ariz.: Coriolis Group. p. 648. ISBN 1-57610-777-9. The STL is made up of containers, iterators, function objects, and algorithms
  2. ^ Musser, David (2001). STL tutorial and reference guide: C++ programming with the standard template library. Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-37923-6.
  3. ^ Lightness Races in Orbit (5 March 2011). "What's the difference between "STL" and "C++ Standard Library"?". Stack Overflow. Retrieved 21 October 2021.