Editing Standard Template Library (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of the Standard Template Library}}

In November 1993 [[Alexander Stepanov]] presented a library based on generic programming to the [[ANSI/ISO committee]] for C++ standardization. The committee's response was overwhelmingly favorable and led to a request from [[Andrew Koenig (programmer)|Andrew Koenig]] for a formal proposal in time for the March 1994 meeting.  The committee had several requests for changes and extensions and the committee members met with Stepanov and Meng Lee to help work out the details. The requirements for the most significant extension ([[associative container]]s) had to be shown to be consistent by fully implementing them, a task Stepanov delegated to [[David Musser]].  A proposal received final approval at the July 1994 ANSI/ISO committee meeting.  Subsequently, the Stepanov and Lee document 17 was incorporated into the ANSI/ISO C++ draft standard (1, parts of clauses 17 through 27).

The prospects for early widespread dissemination of the STL were considerably improved with Hewlett-Packard's decision to make its implementation freely available on the [[Internet]] in August 1994. This implementation, developed by Stepanov, Lee, and Musser during the standardization process, became the basis of many implementations offered by compiler and library vendors today.