-------------------------------------------- I ran into the following problem. I have an algorithm which looks like: template<typename in_t, typename out_t> void Alg (in_t in, in_t inend, out_t out) { for (; in != inend; in++, out++) do_something() } Now if I want to call this algorithm more than once, it would be convenient to pass out by ref, so it would be incremented: Alg (v.begin(), v.end(), boost::ref (out)) that is, pass a reference to some kind of output iterator this fails, because boost::ref doesn't have operator++ defined for reference_wrapper. My question is, should boost::ref forward operators like ++ so that this would work? ---------------------------------------------- Gary Replied: I think you need a different tool, either FC++ or Lambda. "ref()" is just a simple wrapper to make something act like a reference. What you need is the whole operator set and Lambda and FC++ have those. Alg(v.begin(), v.end(), boost::lambda::var(out) ); Should work as you want. Yours, -Gary-