Best way for derived classes to carry different data types in C++

Question

What is the most elegant way to provide an interface in C++ that accepts derived class types that carry with them different data type members that then need to be retrieved later. The example below illustrates this where the Container class provides methods to "post" an Item that will be some kind of derived variant of BaseItem. Later on I want to get the derived Item back and extract its value.

The main thing I want is for the Container interface (post and receive) to stay the same in the future while allowing different "Item" derived types to be defined and "passed" through it. Would template be better for this somehow; I'd rather not use RTTI. Maybe there is some simple, elegant answer to this, but right now I'm struggling to think of it.

class ItemBase {
  // common methods
};

class ItemInt : public ItemBase
{
  private:
    int dat;
  public:
    int get() { return dat; }  
};

class ItemDouble : public ItemBase
{
  private:
    double dat;
  public:
    double get() { return dat; }  
};

class Container {
 public:
   void post(int postHandle, ItemBase *e);      
   ItemBase* receive(int handle); // Returns the associated Item
};

int main()
{
   ItemInt *ii = new IntItem(5);
   Container c;
   c.post(1, ii);

   ItemInt *jj = c.receive(1); 
   int val = jj->get();  // want the value 5 out of the IntItem
}

Answer 1

This is definitely a candidate for generic programming, rather than inheritance. Remember, generics (templates) are ideal when you want identical handling for different data types. Your ItemInt and ItemDouble classes violate OO design principles (the get() method returns different data types depending on what the actual subtype is). Generic programming is built for that. The only other answer would be a tagged data type, and I personally avoid those like the plague.