Rating: 
Summary: extremely impressed with the organization and thoroughness!
Review: My colleagues and I are extremely impressed with both the organization and thoroughness of "The C++ Standard Library". Prior to the purchase of this book, we had consulted 3 other STL books for help in writing our software. All 3 of the other books constantly frustrated us by making it almost impossible to locate information quickly and by omitting key facts. We were, therefore, acutely aware of the inadequacies of the available texts and were, as a result, all the more appreciative of this book and excited to find it. Features I particularly like include: (1) The index is possibly the most inclusive and well organized I have seen anywhere. Under the listing for each container type, for instance, is an indented listing of all associated algorithms, etc and the respective page numbers. (2) For each container type the text includes a listing of any required headers, a concise definition of the stl template/class with all associated constructors and destructors (a very useful feature), and extensive example code. (3) The example code fragments are well documented and point out any anomolies which will result in potential run time errors; saddly, other texts we consulted failed to warn us of these potential run-time errors, one of which cost us a few hours of testing/debugging time. The above list of "likes" is by no means all-inclusive. In short, if I were planning to buy only 1 STL reference, it would be "The C++ Standard Library" by Nicolai Josuttis.
Rating:
Summary: Belongs on every programmer's desk
Review: Before we begin, let me just say: this book is exceptional. It belongs on every C++ programmer's desk.Nicolai Josuttis' book fills a crucial need--exploring every corner of the C++ libraries recently adopted as part of the C++ language standard. While other books have covered this before (or portions, such as the STL), none are as current or as detailed. Josuttis focuses on how to use the standard library to its fullest, and explains the smallest details crisply and logically. The coverage is not limited to the STL, although that makes up the bulk of the book. For example, it contains extremely detailed information about Internationalization, covering every facet of, well, facets. To use a hackneyed expression, this book is an "instant classic" of the C++ literature. Buy it. Read it.
Rating:
Summary: Wow! This book is the bomb!
Review: egcs now comes with STL as part of the standard distribution. There are a lot of books on STL, but they all focus on STL alone. Stroustrup's reference is exacting, but somewhat difficult for intermediate users to get what they need out of it. "The C++ Standard Library : A Tutorial and Reference" provides the missing link, and in fact appears to be just about all an intermediate-level programmer needs in conjunction with the Stroustrup book. There are even some rather esoteric and non-standard implementations that are clearly documented and demystified (such as strstring!) I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: A must have for serious C++ programmers
Review: I find this book, along with Stroustrup's "The C++ programming language" 95% of what one needs to program C++, effectively using the Standard Template Library. This book is organized excellently, with various subjects thoroughly covered and explained. It is suitable to be read as a tutorial, but is of much a better use as a reference, and is very much suited for that, with numerous tables and quick references allowing to find what you want quickly and efficiently. I also paid attention to the excellent index of this book, which never left me un-answered on an STL related question when I needed a quick ref/example to solve a problem. The examples in the book are good and very well explained, leaves place to ask for more (examples) in the next edition :)
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference.
Review: If you're a C++ programmer, then you'll need this book. This is the standard book on the Standard Library and STL. The author does a good job of clearly presenting library, and even at times offering more optimized solutions.
Rating:
Summary: The best reference for beginners
Review: as the title says, it is the best reference book on STL for beginners, once your are very comfortable with the concepts the book represent and C++ seems like a piece of cake, then you may want to get a book which gets deeper into the language.
Many examples is a plus, one minus is that it has many errors which is listed on the book web site that you can download and keep hand, be repaired to fix an error in every 10 or so pages
Rating:
Summary: extremely impressed with the organization and thoroughness!
Review: My colleagues and I are extremely impressed with both the organization and thoroughness of "The C++ Standard Library". Prior to the purchase of this book, we had consulted 3 other STL books for help in writing our software. All 3 of the other books constantly frustrated us by making it almost impossible to locate information quickly and by omitting key facts. We were, therefore, acutely aware of the inadequacies of the available texts and were, as a result, all the more appreciative of this book and excited to find it. Features I particularly like include: (1) The index is possibly the most inclusive and well organized I have seen anywhere. Under the listing for each container type, for instance, is an indented listing of all associated algorithms, etc and the respective page numbers. (2) For each container type the text includes a listing of any required headers, a concise definition of the stl template/class with all associated constructors and destructors (a very useful feature), and extensive example code. (3) The example code fragments are well documented and point out any anomolies which will result in potential run time errors; saddly, other texts we consulted failed to warn us of these potential run-time errors, one of which cost us a few hours of testing/debugging time. The above list of "likes" is by no means all-inclusive. In short, if I were planning to buy only 1 STL reference, it would be "The C++ Standard Library" by Nicolai Josuttis.
Rating: 
Summary: Not perfect, but the best book out there
Review: This book is the best book currently in print on the subject of the C++ STL library. The writing is reasonably clear, and follows a good progressive approach, first introducing the reader to all the general concepts, and then tackling them one by one with all the intricate details.
This book is only for those already with advanced experience with C++ templates. Do not buy this book unless you have read either Schildt's "The Complete C++ Reference" or Lippman's "C++ Primer".
If read cover to cover and fully understood, this book will take you from knowing nothing about the C++ STL, all the way to being an advanced STL expert.
This book could have been better though. For example, almost all the examples use some simple type (such as int or double) as the template arguments. Therefore, most of the examples don't deal with overriding the appropriate operators (e.g. '<' and '==') to get the algorithms to work. Don't get me wrong, this kind of information IS contained in the book, but you have to search for it.
Rating:
Summary: This book smells very nice
Review: Josuttis has written a very thorough compendium of everything you need to know to use STL. Coming out of school, I had seen pretty much only seen 'vector' - little did I know that STL has many different containers matching a variety of problems, plus a whole suite of useful functions working on generic iterators. Josuttis clearly spent much effort to make this massive topic tractible.
I consider this book required reading for serious C++ developers.
Rating:
Summary: So well written that you don't have to read it
Review: I'm an undergraduate computer engineering student. I purchased this book to learn how C++ library-based programming is done in the real world, not in the classroom where we must reinvent the wheel for every project.
I was skeptical when I read the other reviews, but I am extremely impressed with this book. I have not had the chance to sit down and read the book cover to cover yet. However, I have cracked it open a few times when I've gotten stuck, and have been amazed that I have been able to quickly and effortlessly find clear, concise, and thorough answers to every STL question that I've had.
The book is extremely well written: it's well structured, well indexed, and easy to digest. Extremely cost effective.
On a side note, I'm finding it to be an excellent supplement to my data structures & algorithm course's text: the STL is full of innovative, refined, tried and true approaches, whereas the course text presents things coarsely via mechansisms that the author implemented on his own for the sake of his book.
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