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0 pointspjmlp6y ago0 comments

Because STL is part of the compiler, guaranteed to work on every platform supported by the compiler, and does not require lots of paperwork for adoption at many shops.

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kllrnohj6y ago

> Because STL is part of the compiler, guaranteed to work on every platform supported by the compiler

No it isn't and no it's not. There are even platforms where an STL isn't even provided out of the box, you have to pick one. And there's quite a few at that - libc++, libstdc++, stlport, etc...

But clang, g++, etc... they don't care. To them it's just another library you're linking against, no different from any other dependency. They don't provide it, they don't care. It can even be quite a pain in the ass to use the "native" STL of a given compiler, like trying to use libc++ with Clang on most Linux distros.

pjmlpOP6y ago

Only ISO C++ compliant platforms matter.

As having multiple implementations to choose from, that is the beauty of language standards.

Abseil and boost do not fall under that umbrella, and I belong to the C++ subculture that never ever touched them, or plans to.

cmroanirgo6y ago

STL by it's very name is a library, and because it ships with a compiler, doesn't mean it's part of that compiler. It's just a library, like Boost. It might have some ISO standards behind it: great! But it's still a library and not intrinsic to the language itself (see my orig question).

eg. to use an 'int' you just declare one and use it. To use strings, you need to include <string.h>.

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de_watcher6y ago

You're a troll from 2003. I remember huge forum threads about STL.

Now it's the Standard Library like in any other language.

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