<s>
In	O
computing	O
,	O
the	O
Standard	B-Application
Template	I-Application
Library	I-Application
(	O
STL	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
software	B-Library
library	I-Library
for	O
the	O
C++	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1979	O
he	O
began	O
working	O
out	O
his	O
initial	O
ideas	O
of	O
generic	B-Language
programming	I-Language
and	O
exploring	O
their	O
potential	O
for	O
revolutionizing	O
software	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
David	O
Musser	O
had	O
developed	O
and	O
advocated	O
some	O
aspects	O
of	O
generic	B-Language
programming	I-Language
already	O
by	O
1971	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
limited	O
to	O
a	O
rather	O
specialized	O
area	O
of	O
software	O
development	O
(	O
computer	B-Algorithm
algebra	I-Algorithm
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Stepanov	O
recognized	O
the	O
full	O
potential	O
for	O
generic	B-Language
programming	I-Language
and	O
persuaded	O
his	O
then-colleagues	O
at	O
General	O
Electric	O
Research	O
and	O
Development	O
(	O
including	O
,	O
primarily	O
,	O
David	O
Musser	O
and	O
Deepak	O
Kapur	O
)	O
that	O
generic	B-Language
programming	I-Language
should	O
be	O
pursued	O
as	O
a	O
comprehensive	O
basis	O
for	O
software	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
time	O
there	O
was	O
no	O
real	O
support	O
in	O
any	O
programming	O
language	O
for	O
generic	B-Language
programming	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
major	O
language	O
to	O
provide	O
such	O
support	O
was	O
Ada	B-Language
(	O
ANSI	O
standard	O
1983	O
)	O
,	O
with	O
its	O
generic	O
units	O
feature	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1985	O
,	O
the	O
Eiffel	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
became	O
the	O
first	O
object-oriented	O
language	O
to	O
include	O
intrinsic	O
support	O
for	O
generic	O
classes	O
,	O
combined	O
with	O
the	O
object-oriented	O
notion	O
of	O
inheritance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
1987	O
Stepanov	O
and	O
Musser	O
had	O
developed	O
and	O
published	O
an	O
Ada	B-Language
library	O
for	O
list	O
processing	O
that	O
embodied	O
the	O
results	O
of	O
much	O
of	O
their	O
research	O
on	O
generic	B-Language
programming	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
Ada	B-Language
had	O
not	O
achieved	O
much	O
acceptance	O
outside	O
the	O
defense	O
industry	O
and	O
C++	B-Language
seemed	O
more	O
likely	O
to	O
become	O
widely	O
used	O
and	O
provide	O
good	O
support	O
for	O
generic	B-Language
programming	I-Language
even	O
though	O
the	O
language	O
was	O
relatively	O
immature	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
reason	O
for	O
turning	O
to	O
C++	B-Language
,	O
which	O
Stepanov	O
recognized	O
early	O
on	O
,	O
was	O
the	O
C/C	O
++	O
model	O
of	O
computation	O
that	O
allows	O
very	O
flexible	O
access	O
to	O
storage	O
via	O
pointers	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
crucial	O
to	O
achieving	O
generality	O
without	O
losing	O
efficiency	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Much	O
research	O
and	O
experimentation	O
were	O
needed	O
,	O
not	O
just	O
to	O
develop	O
individual	O
components	O
,	O
but	O
to	O
develop	O
an	O
overall	O
architecture	O
for	O
a	O
component	O
library	O
based	O
on	O
generic	B-Language
programming	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
First	O
at	O
AT&T	O
Bell	O
Laboratories	O
and	O
later	O
at	O
Hewlett-Packard	O
Research	O
Labs	O
(	O
HP	O
)	O
,	O
Stepanov	O
experimented	O
with	O
many	O
architectural	O
and	O
algorithm	O
formulations	O
,	O
first	O
in	O
C	B-Language
and	O
later	O
in	O
C++	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
work	O
undoubtedly	O
would	O
have	O
continued	O
for	O
some	O
time	O
being	O
just	O
a	O
research	O
project	O
or	O
at	O
best	O
would	O
have	O
resulted	O
in	O
an	O
HP	O
proprietary	O
library	O
,	O
if	O
Andrew	O
Koenig	O
of	O
Bell	O
Labs	O
had	O
not	O
become	O
aware	O
of	O
the	O
work	O
and	O
asked	O
Stepanov	O
to	O
present	O
the	O
main	O
ideas	O
at	O
a	O
November	O
1993	O
meeting	O
of	O
the	O
ANSI/ISO	O
committee	O
for	O
C++	B-Language
standardization	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
requirements	O
for	O
the	O
most	O
significant	O
extension	O
(	O
associative	B-Application
containers	I-Application
)	O
had	O
to	O
be	O
shown	O
to	O
be	O
consistent	O
by	O
fully	O
implementing	O
them	O
,	O
a	O
task	O
Stepanov	O
delegated	O
to	O
Musser	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Subsequently	O
,	O
the	O
Stepanov	O
and	O
Lee	O
document	O
17	O
was	O
incorporated	O
into	O
the	O
ANSI/ISO	O
C++	B-Language
draft	O
standard	O
(	O
1	O
,	O
parts	O
of	O
clauses	O
17	O
through	O
27	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
influenced	O
other	O
parts	O
of	O
the	O
C++	B-Language
Standard	O
Library	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
string	O
facilities	O
,	O
and	O
some	O
of	O
the	O
previously	O
adopted	O
standards	O
in	O
those	O
areas	O
were	O
revised	O
accordingly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
STL	O
requirements	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
publicly	O
available	O
draft	O
standard	O
,	O
compiler	O
vendors	O
and	O
independent	O
software	B-Library
library	I-Library
vendors	O
could	O
of	O
course	O
develop	O
their	O
own	O
implementations	O
and	O
market	O
them	O
as	O
separate	O
products	O
or	O
as	O
selling	O
points	O
for	O
their	O
other	O
wares	O
.	O
</s>
