"- Show how the STL makes most things easier (arrays, maps, etc)" The problem with the STL is that you are always running into roadblocks when you try to compo

"- Show how the STL makes most things easier (arrays, maps, etc)" The problem with the STL is that you are always running into roadblocks when you try to compose things. I tried for a very long time to like the STL, and in the end it was very very good for one thing -- pushing me to look for something better. I suspect things have improved some with the newer C++ standards (it's probably been almost 10 years since I gave up doing much of what I wanted to do in C++), but I much prefer Lisp, Scheme, and other languages now (most, if not all of them dynamically typed). Learning Lisp-family languages did indeed change how I program in other languages -- IMHO greatly improving the way I write code. I might revisit C++ at some point, just to see what's happening there. I've only skimmed a few articles about the newer standards, and some things look promising. But it would probably take my involvement in a real-world project that uses C++ to get me to go there. I've just spent way too many frustrating hours trying to get things to work the way I wanted in C++.