If anyone is interested, I have developed a simple 2D matrix container adapter that we use for image processing and such. It's basically an stl-compliant interface that wraps a std::vector, or any other vector-like container, and provides - row/column indexing - iterators for subregion access - subscript function objects - normal stl container stuff like iterators and custom allocators - row/column insert/erase It's simple and general, and it's proven useful in our lab. Maybe someone else may find it useful too. An example may be found at: http://128.83.207.86/~jsp/matrix_doc/example0_8cpp-example.html The full docs, with a few more examples, may be found at: http://128.83.207.86/~jsp/matrix_doc/ Zipped up source may be found at: http://128.83.207.86/~jsp/software/matrix-0.2.2.zip I have tested it with gcc 3, gcc 4, and msvc 8.0. Thanks, Jeff