(If this is off topic, has already been discussed, or is stupid, I'm sorry) I wanted a static assert without #define, I ended up with this: template<bool MustBeTrue, int TemplateAssertError = 1 / static_cast<int>(MustBeTrue)> class template_assert {}; so template_assert<true> means TemplateAssertError = 1 / 1, no error template_assert<false> means TemplateAssertError = 1 / 0, error The only compiler I have is MSVC++ 2003. I have no idea how other compilers like it, but to me this seems like a better alternative to BOOST_STATIC_ASSERT. Is it? An example, with the code that will trigger template_assert commented out: // template<class Type> struct test { typedef template_assert<sizeof(Type) == sizeof(int)> assert_type; void do_nothing() {} }; template<bool Boo> void function() { template_assert<Boo>(); test<int> works; works.do_nothing(); //test<char> fails; //fails.do_nothing(); } void start() { function<true>(); //works //function<false>(); //fails } // In MSVC++ 2003 i can also use: template<bool Boo> void function() { template_assert<Boo>; //<-- no parenthesis ... but i suppose this is not portable (I don't have a copy of the C++ standard). Thank you all for making boost! /Johan Paulsson