// explicit type conversion made easy!

template<class T>
struct auto_cast_t {
    template<class U>
      operator U() const { return (U)_obj; }
    const T _obj;
};

template<class T>
auto_cast_t<T> auto_cast(T obj)
{
    auto_cast_t<T> const ret = { obj };
    return ret;
}

int main()
{
    int** p = auto_cast(666L);
    const int** q = auto_cast(p);
    const int *(*r)[5] = auto_cast("hello world");
}