The C++ STL (Standard Template Library) is a generic collection of class templates and algorithms that allow programmers to easily implement standard data structures like queues, lists, and stacks.
The C++ STL provides programmers with the following constructs, grouped into three categories:
The idea behind the C++ STL is that the hard part of using complex data structures has already been completed. If a programmer would like to use a stack of integers, all one has to do is use this code:
stack<int> myStack;
With minimal effort, one can now push and pop integers onto this stack. Through the magic of C++ Templates, one could specify any data type, not just integers. The STL Stack class will provide generic functionality of a stack, regardless of the data in the stack.
In addition, the STL also provides a bunch of useful algorithms – such as binary_search, sort, and for_each – that can be used on a variety of containers or data structures.
C++ Iterators provide a generic way of iterating over the STL data structures.
The <functional> header file defines methods related to the creation of function objects.
The <memory> header file provides simple memory management structures like auto_ptr.
There are several generic utility methods like make_pair in the <utility> header file.