Form Alexandrescu "Modern C++...", a type list is defined as template<class T, class U> struct TL { typedef T head; typedef U tail; }; A lot of interesting stuff can be made with, please refer to the book for reference. A problem is the initialization, as the author says: "A Plethora of macros that transform recursion into simple enumeration..." Something like: #define TL_1(a) TL<a, NullType > #define TL_2(a,b) TL<a, TL_1(b) > #define TL_3(a,b,c) TL<a, TL_2(b,c) > #define TL_4(a,b,c,d) TL<a, TL_3(b,c,d) > #define TL_5(a,b,c,d,e) TL<a, TL_4(b,c,d,e) > #define TL_6(a,b,c,d,e,f) TL<a, TL_5(b,c,d,e,f) > So that it is possible to say: TL_3(int, double, char*) and get the corresponding type list. I think it is possible to avoid the macros: struct E {}; template<class T1 = E, class T2 = E, class T3 = E, class T4 = E, class T5 = E, class T6 = E, class T7 = E> struct TLCreator { typedef TL<T1, typename TLCreator<T2,T3,T4,T5,T6,T7,E>::MyTL> MyTL; }; template<> struct TLCreator<E, E, E, E, E, E, E> { typedef E MyTL; }; Now you can say: TLCreator<int, double, char*>::MyTL instead of using a macro. Following little drivers shows it works. First define a type list length calculator, as explained by Alexandrescu: /* type list length */ template<class TL> struct Length; template<> struct Length<E> { enum{ value = 0 }; }; template<class T, class U> struct Length<TL<T,U> > { enum{ value = 1 + Length<U>::value }; }; Then test putting in main() the following int m1 = Length< TLCreator<int>::MyTL >::value; int m2 = Length< TLCreator<int, double>::MyTL >::value; int m3 = Length< TLCreator<int, double, std::string>::MyTL >::value; int m4 = Length< TLCreator<int, double, std::string, char>::MyTL >::value; std::cout << "\n" << m1 << ", " << m2 << ", " << m3 << ", " << m4 << "\n"; And you get what you would expect! I don't know if this is a known result. But it seems very powerful, indeed you can do a lot of things following the previous schema. If it is not already known I can post more example of the use of the above "template parameters iteration" schema. Thanks for your attention Marco