GOOD C++ books

For newbs that need a good book to learn from! (I have 2000 or so as it is :P) No dummies books, they blow.

One of the problems with C++ and STL is that it isn't STANDARD. For alot of commercial packages, developers write their own library packages to suit their needs for the task at hand. The standard template is usefull when starting but when you need to corrilate a complete design persepective on your code, you just simply cannot do it with STL.

The next major problem is when you use STL your limited the version of the compiler and how it adhires to the standard. So the standard template library is infact not standard, it dependent on the compiler your using.

Go ahead be very arrogant that their is only one set way of development work in C++, and thats with the STL. But the truth of the matter is that the STL is very lacking in comformatity and simplcity to use, and doesn't have an good overview design perspective. To say otherwise just simply means you are a programmer and not a developer. Added to this, that the STL has to adhire to different compilers in what they can and cannot do. So when you get errors, god forsaken enjoy your debugging session.