Magic type return

[bearophile]

Andrea Fontana:

> class Known
> {
>          void* data; // external data by c api
>          int type;  // 0 for int, 1 for string, etc. ..
> }
>
> How can I implement a method like this?
>
> Known  known;  // <-- suppose known.type == 1;
> string s  = known.value(); // <-- automatic

To do this Known.value() needs to return different types 
according to the run-time value of Known.type. This is not 
possible in a statically typed language... You need to find other 
solutions.

Bye,
bearophile