When the existing HistOOgram package was implemented, compilers that provided adequate support for templates were not widely available. Templates and other modern C++ features can offer significant advantages. In the case of HTL, these can be summarised as:
These issues, especially the maintainability and high degree of decoupling, are of particular importance to very long-term projects, such as those at the LHC, where change and migration must be assumed and planned for.