This volume is definitely worth a read or two, if you want to open your eyes to a variety of applications of STL containers and algorithms. For people already into the practice and way of using STL on a regular basis, it gives you reinforcement and validation that you did good and right in your previous work. Even if you are good already, you may still learn a trick or two here and there through the pages. One of the things I wasn't aware is that a member function must be a const one (calling it won't change the state of the object) if used with a binder (bind1st or bind2nd). IMHO, the set of books in the "C In Depth" series, edited by Bjarne Stroustrup and published by Addison-Wesley, belong to the first tier, high quality, and highly intellectual. A number of others in the "Professional Computing" series under the aegis of Brian Kernighan, such those by Scott Meyers, belong to the 1st tier, too. There are surely others as well. One characteristic of the 1st tier works is that they don't spell out all the gory details; they stop short, rightfully, at elaborating on too practical side of things. That is where books such as this particular one come in to fill the void. In terms of quality and content of writing, they may be (and in many cases, in fact) not as rigorous as those in the 1st tier, but they help you see things about which beans are spilled. BTW, an example of 1st tier books about STL in particular is certainly Josuttis' "The C Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference." C++ Standard Library Practical Tips teaches beginning and experienced programmers how to use the Standard Library and its major component the Standard Template Library (STL) effectively in routine programming chores. The book provides 100 quick, easy-to-use tips and solutions to common programming problems such as using the right container, getting a C-style array from a vector, initializing a map with specified values, and computing the mean, median, and mode. The solutions are grouped by topics including, lists, deques, vectors, text processing, numerical algorithms, numerical processing, and containers so programmers can quickly look up a solution when they encounter a problem. To demonstrate the use of the tips in practical application, the book concludes with a capstone project about digital image processing and, in particular, image enhancement. This application shows the power of the Standard Library as it graphically illustrates how just a few lines of Standard Library code can produce major changes in the appearance of an image. Annotation C++ Standard Library Practical Tips provides quick, easy-to-use solutions to common programming problems. The tips are grouped by topics including, lists, deques, vectors, text processing, numerical algorithms, numerical processing, and containers, with titles that describe the programming problems they solve, not the techniques they use, so programmers can quickly look up a solution when a problem is encountered. Topics covered include using the right container, removing excess memory, initializing a map with specified values, and using a function in an algorithm. To demonstrate the use of the tips in practical application, the book concludes with a capstone project about digital image processing and, in particular, image enhancement. The companion CDROM includes all the source code and programs from the book, as well as a Borland C++ compiler
although Intended As A Reference, This Sourcebook's Structure Lends Itself To Self-study, Especially With Use Of The Accompanying Cd-rom. Practitioner Reese Overviews The Features Of The Library, Error Handling And Namespaces, Then Reviews The Standard Template Library, Including Iterators, Interator Adapters, Containers, Functors And Algorithms, Then Gives 100 Extended Tips, With Code And Samples On Containers In General, Vectors, Deques, Lists, Associative Containers, Algorithms, And Text And Numerical Processing. He Closes With A Section On Imaging Processing Including Image Creation And Magnification, Image Arithmetic, And Enhancement. Annotation © 2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, Or
