<BLOCKQUOTE>“This is <I>Effective C++</I> volume three – it's really that good.”<BR>– Herb Sutter, independent consultant and secretary of the ISO/ANSI C++ standards committee</BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE>“There are very few books which all C++ programmers <I>must</I> have. Add <I>Effective STL</I> to that list.”<BR>– Thomas Becker, Senior Software Engineer, Zephyr Associates, Inc., and columnist, <I>C/C++ Users Journal</I></BLOCKQUOTE> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">C++'s Standard Template Library is revolutionary, but learning to use it well has always been a challenge. Until now. In this book, best-selling author Scott Meyers (<I></I>, and <I></I>) reveals the critical rules of thumb employed by the experts – the things they almost always do or almost always avoid doing – to get the most out of the library.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">Other books describe <I>what's in</I> the STL. <I>Effective STL</I> shows you <I>how to use it</I>. Each of the book's 50 guidelines is backed by Meyers' legendary analysis and incisive examples, so you'll learn not only what to do, but also <I>when</I> to do it – and <I>why</I>.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">Highlights of <I>Effective STL</I> include:</P> <UL> <LI>Advice on choosing among standard STL containers (like vector and list), nonstandard STL containers (like hash_set and hash_map), and non-STL containers (like bitset). <LI>Techniques to maximize the efficiency of the STL and the programs that use it. <LI>Insights into the behavior of iterators, function objects, and allocators, including things you should <I>not</I> do. <LI>Guidance for the proper use of algorithms and member functions whose names are the same (e.g., find), but whose actions differ in subtle (but important) ways. <LI>Discussions of potential portability problems, including straightforward ways to avoid them.</LI></UL> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">Like Meyers' previous books, <I>Effective STL</I> is filled with proven wisdom that comes only from experience. Its clear, concise, penetrating style makes it an essential resource for every STL programmer.</P>