IIRC, these are AP classes: they aren't standard, and they're supposed to help teach C++. Yeah right, like confusing students as to what the bitshift opperator does really helps them, or shielding them from standard C null-terminated strings helps them. IMNSHO, the AP classes are bullshit. You won't have them in the real programming world, so why the fuck do you have to learn to use them to take the advanced placement tests? In my three years as a professional, I have not once benefited from the time I spent learning to use the AP classes.