I agree - I've found the STL a massive productivity boost, for all its ugliness. It's worth it for std::vector and std::string alone, and I also like std::map (even though the API teeters on the boundary between genius and insanity) and std::set. All there for your use, with your own data types, out of the box.

I discovered the STL one day in February 1999, by accident, when looking for something else in the VC++ help. Once I realised what I'd found, I gave up C entirely within about 1 week.