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11/20/2001   How Solid Is the Theoretical Foundation of STL?

 AP Wire Service

STL is specified as part of the C++ Standard. But in the Standard, the semantic definition of the C++ language and the standard library components is given only informally as a set of requirements stated in English. It is incomplete and depends heavily on the reader's (and the language and library implementor's) prior knowledge and "good intentions." While this works well most of the time, there can be misunderstandings and misinterpretations that lead to incorrect or unexpected program behavior. One possible remedy is using a formally defined specification language to express the semantics rigorously.
  In today's and the next class the discussion is based mainly on

Tecton Description of STL Container and Iterator Concepts (PDF file; hard copies available in class),
which is a working draft of a paper that uses the Tecton concept description language to give the first rigorous specification of key STL concepts and component semantics.
  The following slides outline how Tecton itself is defined and give an overview of the STL-related specification examples in the above paper.
The Tecton Concept Description Language (Postscript file).


 

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