Overview The Standard Template Library (STL) is a general-purpose library of generic algorithms and data structures. It is part of the C++ Standard Library. Nowadays, most compiler vendors include a version on STL in their products, and there are commercial implementations available as well. Good books on STL are: Nicolai M. Josuttis: The C++ Standard Library. A Tutorial and Reference David R. Musser, Atul Saini: STL Tutorial and Reference Guide / C++ Programming with the Standard Template Library Scott Meyers: Effective STL Resources available online include the reference of the SGI implementation: SGI STL homepage , this is the basis of the native egcs STL implementation. STL in Geant4 Since release 0.1, Geant4 supports STL, the Standard Template Library. From release 1.0 of Geant4, STL is required. Native implementations of STL are foreseen on all supported platforms.