Storing different std::tuple types in an array, vector or?

Question

Is there any way in the latest C++ version (17 or 20 I guess) to store different kinds of tuples in a std::array or std::vector or other built-in data type? For example maybe something like ->

struct bunchOfTuples {
    std::tuple<float, float, int, int> firstTup = std::make_tuple(float, float, int, int);
    std::tuple<float, float, int> secondTup = std::make_tuple(float, float, int); };
    // bunch more tuples of differing types
};

Is there some way using templates to achieve something similar? Or a class or struct implementation? Or another way I haven't thought of I am kind of new to the latest C++ stuff? I am working on an automatic method invocation project. I have something that basically works but this would make it cleaner.

Answer 1

Arrays, vectors and in fact all standard containers are homogeneous. This means that all elements of the container have the same type. Different instances of the std::tuple template are different classes. As such, they cannot be stored in one array.

C++ does have heterogeneous wrappers: std::variant and std::any . Variant is an implementation of a tagged union. It can be used to store an object from a pre-defined list of types. any is a type safe wrapper for void* . it can store an object of any type. So, a container of variant or any might be useful to you.

They are only low level tools though, and for more featured heterogeneous processing, there are existing libraries such as Boost.Hana.