STL and its Design Principles

Watch this video, which discusses the principles of the C++ STL (Standard Template Library) and describes abstraction as it pertains to algorithms and data. There are different kinds of abstraction. For hardware, we used part-whole abstraction to decompose a computer into its module hierarchy. In this lecture, you encounter part-whole abstraction for data, but one based on generality for algorithms – when an algorithm is a special case of another algorithm, the latter is more general than the former. The discourse leads to object-oriented and generic programming. STL is an organized collection of generic algorithms applicable to a more general collection of problems and tasks. STL templates include Containers, Iterators, Algorithms, and Functors. In this long, but illuminating video, the lecturer gives his insight into the development of STL, its benefits and limitations. Focus on the parts of the lecture that relate to abstraction and composition, and the process of creating programs.