TITLE: hashtables and the STL (Newsgroups: comp.std.c++, 16 Apr 98) FUNG: "Hankel O'Fung" >1) Please forgive me if this is an old question: what is the reason for >not accepting hash table as part of the standard library? Or maybe this >is a wrong question. I should ask the following first: has any body >submitted a specification of hash-table to the ANSI/ISO C++ committee? CLAMAGE: clamage@Eng.Sun.COM (Steve Clamage) The original STL proposal was accepted into the C++ standard in 1994. Some time later, a proposal for hash table additions was submitted, but it was past the point where proposals for new features could be accepted. The proposal was not rejected for any technical reason, but only because there was not enough time to evaluate it and still have any hope of getting out the standard in anything approaching the schedule. The standard took 8 years from inception to approval of a final draft as it was. The STL proposal took over 4 years to settle, from original proposal to when it achieved some stability. (It was still being tweaked up until the end.) The hash table proposal was nearly as big, and we'd probably still be working on it had it been accepted. FUNG: >3) Just for curiosity. What is the "std" in "comp.std.c++"? Standard, >study, or ...? CLAMAGE: "Standard". See the FAQ for more on that subject. ----- FUNG: : 2) Where can I find a portable, reliable, efficient and free-of-charge : (sorry for being so greedy) implementation of a hash table? ZABLUDA: Oleg Zabluda http://www.sgi.com/Technology/STL http://www.metabyte.com/~fbp/stl/effort.html [snip]