The numerical solution of partial differential equations frequently requires the solution of large and sparse linear systems. Using generic programming techniques like in C++ one can create solver libraries that allow efficient realization of "fine grained interfaces", i. e. with functions consisting only of a few lines, like access to individual matrix entries. This prevents code replication and allows programmers to work more efficiently.

In this paper we present the "Iterative Solver Template Library" (ISTL) which is part of the "Distributed and Unified Numerics Environment" (DUNE). It applies generic programming in C++ to the domain of iterative solvers of linear systems stemming from finite element discretizations. Those discretizations exhibit a lot of structure. Our matrix and vector interface supports a block recursive structure. I. E. each sparse matrix entry can be a sparse or a small dense matrix itself. Based on this interface we present efficient solvers that use the recursive block structure via template metaprogramming.