Dear C++ Committee,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to propose an enhancement
to the template class std::any in the C++ standard library. The proposed
enhancement aims to simplify the usage of std::any by adding a conversion
function, thereby eliminating the need for explicit std::any_cast
operations.

Currently, using std::any requires explicit casting using
std::any_cast but adding
a conversion function to std::any will allow users to convert the stored
value to a specified type directly, without the need for std::any_cast
which will

   1. Improve Readability: The proposed conversion function makes code more
   readable by eliminating the need for explicit casts.
   2. Simplified Usage: Developers can use the conversion function
   directly, reducing the complexity of working with std::any.

Considering the scenario where std::any is used as an argument to an
overloaded function. With the proposed conversion function, we can use the
builtin *static_cast* which is more convenient to be used than the template
function *std::any_cast.*
The attached file is a simple implementation of the *std::any* with the
conversion function and simple usage of it, I would appreciate it if you
could review the attached file and provide feedback.

*Sincerely, Ahmed Elbadawy*