C++ collection of abstract base classes

Question

how can I create STL collection of classes which implement abstract base class using the base class as collection value, without using pointers?

is there something in Boost that allows me to implement it? The collection specifically is map.

Thanks

Answer 1

You cannot avoid pointers completely. You must store pointers in the collection if you want to avoid Object slicing. Boost has a container that hides the pointers pretty well: ptr_map