Storing a type in C++

Question

Is it possible to store a type name as a C++ variable? For example, like this:

type my_type = int; // or string, or Foo, or any other type
void* data = ...;
         


        

Answer 1

A better process is to have a common base class containing a load method, and an interface for loaders. This would allow other parts of the program to load data generically without knowledge of the descendant class:

struct Load_Interface;

struct Loader
{
  virtual void visit(Load_Interface&) = 0;
}

struct Load_Interface
{
  virtual void accept_loader(Loader& l)
    {
        l.visit(*this);
    }
};

This design avoids the need to know the types of objects.