I have following code: template < typename PointerT > void f( PointerT ptr ) { ReferenceT ref = *ptr; // ... do something with ref ... } The problem is that ReferenceT is unknown inside f( ... ). If i had similar code for InteratorT instead of PointerT i was using iterator_traits. AFAIK there is no pointer traits for a raw and smart pointers and i can not use type_traits for smart pointers. So, the question is: "Is there some simple solution for this problem or this is just lack of pointer_traits in boost (std?) ?" regards, bohdan