An extract from
http://www.cosc.brocku.ca/~cspress/HelloWorld/1999/03-mar/standard_template_library_p1.html
:

C++ Standard Template Library: Part I

History

The C++ Standard Template Library (STL) is mainly the invention of one
person, Alexander Stepanov. Stepanov's research during his time at AT&T
Bell Labs, and later Hewlett-Packard (HP) Research Labs, forms the basis of
what is now the STL. He was joined in his work at HP in 1992 by Meng Lee,
who became a major contributor to the project. At the behest of Andrew
Koenig of Bell Labs, Stepanov and Lee presented a draft proposal to the
November 1993 meeting of the ANSI/ISO C++ standards committee. Being an
instant hit, of sorts, Stepanov and Lee were asked to present a formal
proposal at the March 1994 meeting. At that meeting several changes were
suggested by committee members, some minor and some major, including some
new extensions. All of these changes were incorporated by Stepanov and Lee
and the final proposal for the STL was approved as part of the C++ standard
at the ANSI/ISO meeting in July 1994.

What is the STL?

The STL is all about generic programming. The goal of generic programming
is the same as that of object-oriented software design: reusability. In
fact, they complement each other very well. The STL is made up of generic
constructs that allow the programmer to implement the same algorithm using
any built-in or user-defined type. These constructs include generic
algorithms, containers, iterators, function objects, adapters, and
allocators. They provide for widely adaptable and efficient components that
are far more useful and more likely to be used than redesigning more
specific algorithms for every data structure encountered.

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