Hi, I want to have a few classes to be stored inside a vector by reference. I thought to use boost::ref for that purpose , instead of storing pointer. However I am facing some problem regarding the operator & . Here is a sample code which gives the problem, struct T2{ int x; T2(int x) :x(x){} }; int main(int argc,char** argv) { std::vector<boost::reference_wrapper<T2> > v; /// vector stores reference, rather than value. T2 t1 = 10; T2 t2 = 15; v.push_back(boost::ref(t1)); /// push ref to t1. v.push_back(boost::ref(t2)); ///push ref to t2. v[0].get().x = 5; ///get by ref & change. /// v[0].x = 5 ; this statement doesn't work! std::cout<<t1.x<<"\n"; ///change is reflected. return 0; } I am not sure why I have to use get for this purpose, while & operator is written for that purpose. Using MSVC 7.1 Even I face problem like this, struct T3{ T2 t2_; T3(int x) : t2_(x){} T2& operator&(){ return t2_; } }; std::vector<T3> v3; v3.push_back(T3(4)); v3.push_back(T3(5)); /// v3[0].x = 6; This doesn't work. (&v3[0]).x = 6; ///This works! Can anyone say a little detail about the problem ? -- Abir Basak, Member IEEE Software Engineer, Read Ink Technologies B. Tech, IIT Kharagpur email: abir@abirbasak.com homepage: www.abirbasak.com