Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good Book
Review: I have had this book for a year now, and just by chance I happened to reread the reviews. I am quite offended by the remarks of the previous reviewer. By no means is this book "rubbish." I am sure that in any topic many good books and summaries are possible, but I think what most programmers new to a topic are looking for is decent explanation with good examples. In this aspect, the book definitely scores. I would recommend this book for programmers new to STL, but reading the online STL documents will end up becoming necessary as your application demands become more complex and you develop more experience with STL. I have read Musser and Saini's book (publisher Addison Wesley), and though I agree that that book caters to an audience that is perhaps more keenly interested in data-structure and algorithm performance issues, myself included, (BTW you could find all that information online www.sgi.com/Technology/STL), by no means would I be so ruthless with respect to the current book.In any case I think Amazon.com is pretty prompt with refunds if a purchase turns out so terrible. The visibly upset reviewer could get his/her money back it seems. This kind of inflamatory verbiage only lessen the value of a review. BTW, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is one of the birth homes of STL.
Rating: 
Summary: good initial reference, lacking in long-term value
Review: I read this book in the lounge at work while bored. While the author has a good writing style, it is full of scads of technical errors and many programming practices that should not be imitated. This phenomenon is not unheard of for Mr. Schildt either. Many of his past books have been received very badly by the C/C++ community. For that reason, I think it's irresponsible for him to proclaim himself as an "authority" and "master". What he should do is take on a reviewer for his books with more technical skill than he posesses. So in conclusion, I'm saddened to have to inform you that this book is not worth your money. To recommend a good book for you, I can vouch for this one: "The C++ Standard Library : A Tutorial and Reference". But have a look around, there are other good ones.
Rating: 
Summary: Yet another bad Schildt Book
Review: I read this book in the lounge at work while bored. While the author has a good writing style, it is full of scads of technical errors and many programming practices that should not be imitated. This phenomenon is not unheard of for Mr. Schildt either. Many of his past books have been received very badly by the C/C++ community. For that reason, I think it's irresponsible for him to proclaim himself as an "authority" and "master". What he should do is take on a reviewer for his books with more technical skill than he posesses. So in conclusion, I'm saddened to have to inform you that this book is not worth your money. To recommend a good book for you, I can vouch for this one: "The C++ Standard Library : A Tutorial and Reference". But have a look around, there are other good ones.
Rating:
Summary: Rubbish
Review: I really don't know where all these other reviewers are coming from. I've been a C++ programmer for 8 years. When I had to use STL for a project I picked up this book, read it, and didn't think it had given me any more information than can be found in the 20 or so pages that Stroustroup used to summarize STL in CPL. This book DOES NOT tell you how to use STL. It has a few summary charts and tables, and a whole bunch of self-congratulating prose by the auther which takes you once round the block of his ego, and lands you exactly where you started from - as far as learning the STL is concerned. Upto a about a year or so ago, this book and the Addison-Wesley one were the only STL books around. And the AW book catered to slightly less fast-food (read 'junk-food') type of IT book consumer. That may explain the large number of good reviews here. I can't think of anything else. (And the dearth of good STL books is still a problem). Buy this book if you wish.. but it will probably be sitting forlorly on your shelf even after you have read it once or more.. staring at you sadly and reminding you of its complete inadequacy, not to mention the money that you wasted on it. Mark my words.
Rating:
Summary: Want to know about the STL? Try this!
Review: If the online help that comes with your compiler for the STL isn't enough, then I would recommend this book to anyone wishing to learn about the STL. It is useful for beginners, intermediate users and those who wish for a thorough explanation of areas which they may not be proficient in. It thoroughly covers the containers, algorithms, allocators and concludes with more advanced topics. The book is filled with lots of good examples and a clear writing style which gets right to the point.
Rating:
Summary: If you want to know STL and you know C++ then this book you.
Review: If you've got problems to solve and you think STL can help you, then this book is for you. I've read the STL documentation that comes with my Compiler (its terrible). I've read Nelson's "The C++ Programmers Guide to STL (It's complete but too complicated). I don't really care why STL works I just want to use it and I think this book is great. It's full of easy to understand examples, clear and concise explanations of terms. I was really interested in learning about how to use the deque to store classes and the first example is on page 79. I think it's a great book and I'd strongly recommend it and I want to thank those of you who already recommended it because that's why I bought it in the first place.
Rating:
Summary: Schildt does it again
Review: Mr. Schildt writes helpful books. This is not a reference and it is not an encyclopedic treatment of STL programming. STL Programming from the Ground Up is an introduction to STL programming for those who want to come up to speed quickly and who don't care to wrestle with and decypher the cryptic and difficult treatments given by other writers on the subject. The only weakness of the book is that it needs a better index to quickly find the discussion and examples of specific tasks.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Helpful, Very Approachable Book
Review: Mr. Schildt writes helpful books. This is not a reference and it is not an encyclopedic treatment of STL programming. STL Programming from the Ground Up is an introduction to STL programming for those who want to come up to speed quickly and who don't care to wrestle with and decypher the cryptic and difficult treatments given by other writers on the subject. The only weakness of the book is that it needs a better index to quickly find the discussion and examples of specific tasks.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: Schildt writes books that help programmers get the job done. I first moved from assembly to C programming with the help of his books in the late 80's, and this book continues to show why he's a best selling author. This is not a reference and it is not an in-depth guide to all of STL programming. STL Programming from the Ground Up is an introduction to STL programming for those who want to start working with the STL quickly. If I had do say one negative thing, it's only that I would have preferred more material. I would love to see an expanded version or an 'Advanced STL programming' by Mr. Schildt. Other technical writers could help us all if they studied his writing style.
Rating:
Summary: No more than a introduction
Review: The book is good for who have just heard about the existence of STL and need to learn fast how to use it, but if you're experienced C++ programmer, consider this book as a reference. Also, as it covers a standard way of doing things sometimes it's repeating the same text written for one chapter on the others, repeat an explanation just because changed the class. Like Copy and Paste.
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