These days, every C++ textbook that claims to be up to date includes an introduction to the standard library. These introductions vary in their degree of completeness, but typically they are tutorials that try to explain those parts of the library that are most frequently used and therefore relevant even to language novices. The Standard C++ Library takes a different approach: it is devoted exclusively to the standard C++ library and provides a tutorial and reference to all its parts. 

Indeed, the book's strength is its scope. It mentions all classes and functions of the library from the STL and its containers, iterators, functors, and algorithms over strings, numerics, IOStreams, and locales, to standard exceptions, auto_pointer, and allocators. Even details such as the rebind class template in allocators or the auto_ptr_ref conversions in auto_pointer are mentioned at least briefly. 

All relevant features are well explained in a tutorial manner, usually accompanied by short examples that demonstrate a typical usage. This is ideal for people who prefer learning by example rather than by principle. The examples give you an idea of the interface quickly without having to read much text. You might get the most out of The Standard C++ Library if you use it as a reference. It is also a tutorial, but as a tutorial it has a great deal of overlap with the introductions that you can find in other C++ textbooks. 

Still, it is disappointing that a title devoted exclusively to the library spends little time explaining it as the framework that it is. The standard C++ library is not only a box of ready-to-use classes and functions; it is a framework designed to be extended by user-defined abstractions. To use the library is to extend it. The few examples of user-defined extensions to the library are simple and do not exploit the full power of the library framework. 

The author offers little guidance in how you implement your own abstractions. What is recommendable? What should be avoided? Why and when must the difference_type of a user-defined iterator void or ptr_diff or anything else? In practice, what is a reasonable policy for error indication in iostream operations? These and other questions remain unanswered. In fairness, it must be said that hardly any C++ title covers this ground. 

The Standard C++ Library , as a tutorial, is good for programmers with a working knowledge of C++ who intend to use the prefabricated abstractions offered in the library and aim to add simple extensions. As a reference to the library it is excellent, impressive by detail and scope, readable and well-organized, and clearly goes beyond what you typically find in C++ textbooks. 

Angelika Langer develops and teaches classes on advanced C++, STL, multithreading, internationalization, and Java. She has served on the ANSI/ISO C++ Committee since 1993. Klaus Kreft is a software architect and consultant with more than a decade of experience in industrial software development. He works for Siemens Business Services in Germany. Langer and Kreft are working on a book about standard C++ IOStreams and locales and are columnists for C++ Report .