std::vector of type deduced from initializers before C++17 ... any workaround for C++11? - c++11

Question

I learned that from C++17, with the deduction guides, template arguments of std::vector can be deduced e.g. from the initialization:
std::vector vec = { function_that_calculate_and_return_a_specifically_templated_type() }
However I do not have the luxury of C++17 in the machine where I want to compile and run the code now.
Is there any possible workaround for C++11? If more solutions exist, the best would be the one that keep the readability of the code.
At the moment the only idea that I have is to track the various cases along the code (luckily they should not be too many) and make some explicit typedef/using.
Any suggestion is very welcome

Answer 1

The usual way to use type deduction for class template when CTAD is not available is providing a make_* function template, e.g. for your case (trailing return type is necessary for C++11):
#include <vector>
#include <type_traits>
#include <tuple>
template <class ...Args>
auto make_vec(Args&&... args) ->
std::vector<typename std::decay<typename std::tuple_element<0, std::tuple<Args...>>::type>::type>
{
using First = typename std::decay<typename std::tuple_element<0, std::tuple<Args...>>::type>::type;
return std::vector<First>{std::forward<Args>(args)...};
}
You can invoke the above with
const auto v = make_vec(1, 2, 3);
which gets at least kind of close to CTAD in the sense that you don't have to explicitly specify the vector instantiation.

Answer 2

While the answer by lubgr is a correct way, the following template is simpler and seems to work as well:
#include <vector>
#include <string>
template <typename T>
std::vector<T> make_vec(const std::initializer_list<T> &list)
{
return std::vector<T>(list);
}
int main()
{
auto v = make_vec({1,2,3});
auto v2 = make_vec({std::string("s")});
std::string s("t");
auto v3 = make_vec({s});
return v.size() + v2.size() + v3.size();
}
One advantage of using the initializer_list template directly are more clear error messages if you pass mixed types like in make_vec({1,2,"x"});, because the construction of the invalid initializer list now happens in non-templated code.