Hi, For the comparison of several objects of the same class, in order to create a library with no duplicates, I would like to store all the attributes in a data structure (as a private attribute of that class). I have chosen the STL's "map" for this purpose. However, since the attributes can be "double", "int" or "bool", I would like the map to be templated somehow. The following line generates an internal compiler error (Microsoft), or an error message "template instantiation of map" : template<class T> typedef std::map< string, T> AttributeMap; But I think it pretty much explains my wish... Thanks for helping me! Mark