Hi,

I'm a bit lost between all this.

- Could someone explain me the difference between STL and C++ Standard
Library (2 names for the same thing ?) ?

- Is there a good FAQ on that somewhere ?

- Are all compilers shipped with an STL implementation (we
use Workshop Sun/Solaris and VC++ on NT).

- Is the RogueWave implementation fully standard and portable
on Unix and NT ?

- Am I in the correct newsgroup :) ???


Thanks.

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Jean-Marie Lyon <jml@axime-is.fr> writes:

>I'm a bit lost between all this.

>- Could someone explain me the difference between STL and C++ Standard
>Library (2 names for the same thing ?) ?

The term "STL" is not used at all in the C++ standard. It seems
that no two programmers use the term in exactly the same way.

Historically, STL was the name of a template library developed
at HP and used internally. Later it was released into the
public domain. It was also used as the basis of part of what
is now the standard C++ library (as defined by the C++ standard).

SGI has a public-domain library based on the original STL that
they still call "STL". (Alexander Stepanov was the main developer
of the original STL and moved on to SGI.)

In the context of standard C++, "STL" is an informal term that
usually means the containers, alogorithms, and iterators
defined in the standard library. But since class string and
the iostream classes have iterators but yet are not true
STL containers, there is no simple subset of the standard
that can usefully be referred to as STL.

>- Are all compilers shipped with an STL implementation (we
>use Workshop Sun/Solaris and VC++ on NT).

A standard-conforming compiler must provide the standard
library.

>- Is the RogueWave implementation fully standard and portable
>on Unix and NT ?

I don't believe there are any full-conforming C++ standard
libraries available from anyone. Full conformance requires a
fully-conformant compiler, and so far no available compiler
fully meets all requirements of the standard.  A number of
implementations come reasonably close.

A third-party standard library like the ones from Rogue Wave
or Dinkumware must make compromises to work with various
compilers. They contain quite a bit of customizing code.

>- Am I in the correct newsgroup :) ???

If your questions are about the standard and conformance to it,
yes. :-)

--
Steve Clamage, stephen.clamage@sun.com
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