[summerlight]

I wonder if you actually measured it with proper compiler options? I saw some folks insist that STL is somehow slow blaming unnecessary layers but many of them are pretty much groundless. There are some genuine spots where STL has a real performance problems, but I don't think your example illustrates it well.

[dataflow]

Click the link in my post, I added it so you can see everything in action for yourself.

(Although, note I didn't claim "the STL is slow"... that's painting with a much broader stroke than I made.)