Going back in time

I recently started playing around with C++, partly because I wanted to work with a cross-platform language other than Java that I could use on my Windows based laptop and my PowerPC Mac. I have been a developer for 16+ years, but working with C++ has me feeling like I am a new programmer again.

I have been struggling with virtual methods, abstract classes, and templates. I am currently stuck on a situation where I have a pure abstract class defined that I want to use in a collection to represent one of three different derived classes, but I seem to be getting some compile errors where I use it.

At least I am not getting paid like a new developer again.  I would go hungry. :)