any_ptr

A simple header-only smart pointer class that employs type erasure and annotation to safely perform run-time casts of void* to typed pointers. any_ptrs enable the storage of heterogeneous types within a single container, e.g.

 std::vector<any_ptr> ptrs; ptrs.emplace_back(new std::vector<int>({4,5,6})); ptrs.push_back(make_any<std::vector<double>>({7.7,8.8,9.9}));

and safe run-time casting to their progenitor types,

for (auto& ptr : ptrs) {
if (auto runtime_casted_ptr = std::shared_ptr<std::vector<double>>(ptr)) {
std::cout << "Runtime cast to std::vector<double> successful!\n";
std::cout << runtime_casted_ptr[0] << endl;
}
}

Adapted from Cassio Neri's implementation to be Boost-free with C++11 idioms.