One can implement linked lists as you describe in a C++ fashion using multiple inheritance. The LLVM project has many examples of this using the ilist_node clas

One can implement linked lists as you describe in a C++ fashion using multiple inheritance. The LLVM project has many examples of this using the ilist_node class [1], e.g. [2]. Between using preprocessor directives in C and multiple inheritance in C++ (comes with associated complexity in the resulting client code), I'd always pick the latter. [1] https://github.com/llvm-mirror/llvm/blob/release_37/include/llvm/ADT/ilist_node.h#L43 https://github.com/llvm-mirror/llvm/blob/release_37/include/... [2] https://github.com/llvm-mirror/llvm/blob/release_37/include/llvm/IR/BasicBlock.h#L66 https://github.com/llvm-mirror/llvm/blob/release_37/include/...