4 ms·

I used to use “the STL” to refer to “the part of the C++ Standard Library strongly influenced by the design of the historical library”, excluding iostreams etc.

I used to use “the STL” to refer to “the part of the C++ Standard Library strongly influenced by the design of the historical library”, excluding iostreams etc. Later, I decided this didn’t really achieve anything. It’s a Standard Library that’s full of Templates! There are other design philosophies in there, but they are increasingly unimportant. Having to say “C++ Standard Library” all the time, or trying to popularize a new acronym, are worse alternatives. Yes, effective communication is valuable. I have been working on this library for over a decade and I find that the short, memorable acronym ultimately makes it easier to talk about the thing. That said, we are primarily using the acronym for the repo URL and the directory structure; the readme makes it clear that this is “also known as” the STL.

YayamiOmate 7y ago
While I admire your work and feel sympathy towards your wish. This naming got me confused. I wondered whether it's just the templated part of the standard lib or whole. It's anecdotal but there certainly is a strong spirit of getting it right. I guess it's a characteristic of people working with it. In cpp details like that matter a lot. I personally would feel more sympathy towards naming msvc implementation after your initials, then it could be even called STL library =D. Same effect with better motivation imho. Cheers.
- SloopJon 7y ago
  The very first line of the readme had me searching through this thread to figure out what exactly this repo contains. Is it the standard library, or just the STL? Very cool release, but confusing naming. I'm sure it's longstanding practice at Microsoft, but maybe instead of saying "also known as the STL," it would be more clear to say, "which we also call the STL." Anyway, I'm looking forward to poking around this code.
garmaine 7y ago
That's a fair reason. I do echo the sibling comment though that naming the repo "stl" was/is very confusing. I would have called it "stdlib" or something.

YayamiOmate 7y ago

While I admire your work and feel sympathy towards your wish. This naming got me confused. I wondered whether it's just the templated part of the standard lib or whole. It's anecdotal but there certainly is a strong spirit of getting it right. I guess it's a characteristic of people working with it. In cpp details like that matter a lot. I personally would feel more sympathy towards naming msvc implementation after your initials, then it could be even called STL library =D. Same effect with better motivation imho. Cheers.

SloopJon 7y ago
The very first line of the readme had me searching through this thread to figure out what exactly this repo contains. Is it the standard library, or just the STL? Very cool release, but confusing naming. I'm sure it's longstanding practice at Microsoft, but maybe instead of saying "also known as the STL," it would be more clear to say, "which we also call the STL." Anyway, I'm looking forward to poking around this code.

garmaine 7y ago

That's a fair reason. I do echo the sibling comment though that naming the repo "stl" was/is very confusing. I would have called it "stdlib" or something.