1 Definition
polymorphism
Polymorphism the ability to manipulate objects of distinct classes using only knowledge of their common properties without regard for their exact class (Kafura)
Note that polymorphism involves both algorithms and types of data (classes).
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Class Hierarchy
Recall the inheritance hierarchy from earlier notes: Person
1 1
Polymorphism 2 Name
1
1
Address
Student
Employee
Staff
Professor
Assume that a member function Print() has been added to Person, and overriden with custom versions in Student, Staff and Professor.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Base Function and Specializations
Polymorphism 3
The base print function uses an overloading of operator<< for the class Address:
void Person::Print(ostream& Out) { Out << "Name: " << Nom.formattedName() << endl << Addr << endl; } void Professor::Print(ostream& Out) { Person::Print(Out); Out << "Dept: " << getDept() << endl; Out << "ID: " << getID() << endl; Out << "Salary: " << fixed << showpoint << setw(10) << setprecision(2) << Salary << endl; }
Professor::Print() invokes the base function and extends it. Student::Print()and Staff::Print() are similar.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Organizing Objects of Related Types
Polymorphism 4
It is somewhat reasonable to want to have a single data structure that holds objects of any type derived from Person. For example:
Professor JoeBob(/* . . . */); Student HaskellHoo(/* . . . */); Staff JillAnne(/* . . . */); Person People[3]; People[0] = JoeBob; People[1] = HaskellHoo; People[2] = JillAnne;
We may achieve this by using a structure, such as an array, declared to hold objects of the base type, Person in this case.
Since it is legal to assign a derived type object to an object of its base type, the storage statements here are legal however, the effect is not ideal
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Slicing Again
Polymorphism 5
As noted earlier, the assignment of a derived object to a base variable results in "slicing"; the non-base elements are lost in the copying. Thus:
Person People[3]; People[0] = JoeBob; People[1] = HaskellHoo; People[2] = JillAnne; People[0].Print(cout); People[1].Print(cout); People[2].Print(cout);
The three invocations of Print() act on objects of type Person, and the resulting output shows only the data elements of a Person object. Of course, you can't expect anything better because the elements of the array People[] are simply objects of type Person.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Using Pointers to Avoid Slicing
Polymorphism 6
Actually the results are not really acceptable. There are times when we definitely want to be able to use a single data structure to hold objects of related but different types, and have the resulting behavior reflect the type of the actual object. The first question: is how can we avoid slicing? The answer is: dont make a copy
Professor JoeBob(/* . . . */); Student HaskellHoo(/* . . . */); Staff JillAnne(/* . . . */); Person* People[3]; People[0] = &JoeBob; People[1] = &HaskellHoo; People[2] = &JillAnne;
If our data structure stores pointers to the objects, then no slicing will occur. But is this legal? And what is the effect now if we access the objects?
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Pointer Access to Objects in a Hierarchy
Polymorphism 7
The code just shown is legal. A base-type pointer may store the address of a derived-type object. The effect, however, is no better than before. The following statement will still invoke Person::Print() and display only the data members that belong to the Person layer of the object.
People[0]->Print(cout);
The base pointer does point to an object of type Professor (see the original declaration and assignment), but the derived layer with its extended functionality is still inaccessible but this illustrates two of the three steps that are necessary to achieve our goal.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
C++ Support for Polymorphism
In C++, polymorphic behavior can be attained by combining: - an inheritance hierarchy - object accesses via pointers - use of virtual member functions in base classes
Polymorphism 8
class Person { // . . . public: Professor JoeBob( . . . ); Person(. . .); // . . . // . . . virtual void Print(ostream& Out); Person* People[3]; People[0] = &JoeBob; }; // . . . People[0]->Print(cout);
A member function is declared virtual by simply preceding its prototype with the keyword virtual. By declaring Person::Print() as virtual, we complete the enabling of the mechanism used in C++ to achieve polymorphic behavior.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Virtual Functions and Binding
Polymorphism 9
A member function is declared to be virtual by using the keyword virtual. Normally functions are declared virtual in a base class and then overridden in each derived class for which the function should have a specialized implementation. This modifies the rules whereby a function call is bound to a specific function implementation. In normal circumstances (i.e., what weve done before) the compiler determines how to bind each function call to a specific implementation by searching within the current scope for a function whose signature matches the call, and then expanding that search to enclosing scopes if necessary. With an inheritance hierarchy, that expansion involves moving back up through the inheritance tree until a matching function implementation is found.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Early Binding
Polymorphism 10
When the binding of call to implementation takes place at compile-time we say we have early binding (aka static binding). This call binds to the local implementation of Print() given in the class Professor which overrides the one inherited from the base class Person
Professor P(/*. . .*/); P.Print(cout); cout << P.getAddress();
and this binds to the implementation of getAddress() inherited from the class Person.
Early binding is always used if the invocation is direct (via the name of an object using the dot operator), whether virtual functions are used or not. The search for a matching function begins with the actual object type and proceeds up the inheritance hierarchy until a match is found.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Invocation via a Pointer w/o Virtuality
Polymorphism 11
When a function call is made using a pointer, and no virtual functions are involved, the binding of the call to an implementation is based upon the type of the pointer (not the actual type of its target). This call binds to the local implementation of setID() given in the class Employee.
Professor P(/*. . .*/); P.setID(/*. . .*/);
Employee* pEmp = &P; pEmp->setID(/*. . .*/);
Person* pPer = &p; pPer->setID(/*. . .*/);
This call would bind to the implementation of setID() inherited from the class Person, if there were one. As it is, this will generate an error at compile time.
Note: the last call produces a compile-time error because the class Person does not provide a member function that matches the call.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Enabling Polymorphism with Virtual Functions
Polymorphism 12
However, when a function call is made using a pointer, and virtual functions are involved, the binding of the call to an implementation is based upon the type of the target object (not the declared type of the pointer).
Modify the declaration of Employee to make setID() a virtual function:
class Employee : public Person { private: string Dept; string ID; public: // . . . virtual Employee& setID(const string& I); ~Employee(); };
Note this doesn't change the implementation of Employee::setID().
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Invocation via a Pointer with Virtuality
Polymorphism 13
Now, if we access objects in this inheritance hierarchy via pointers, we get polymorphic behavior. That is, the results are consistent with the type of the target, rather than the type of the pointer: This call now binds to the overriding implementation of setID() given in the class Professor. because *pEmp is an object of type.
Professor that P(/*. . .*/); P.setID(/*. . .*/);
Employee* pEmp = &P; pEmp->setID(/*. . .*/);
If you dont think thats cool... The point is that we trigger the behavior of the actual object, even though we can't tell what that type is from the invocation.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Late Binding
Polymorphism 14
When the binding of call to implementation takes place at runtime we say we have late binding (aka dynamic binding).
Professor Prof(/*. . .*/); Staff Stff(/*. . .*/); Person* pPer; char ch; cout << "Enter choice: "; cin >> ch; if (ch == 'y') pPer = &Prof; else pPer = &Stff; pPer->Print(cout);
Theres no way to know the type of the target of pPer until runtime. However, the call to the virtual member function Print() will be bound to the correct implementation regardless.
But HOW is this done? See Stroustrup 2.5.5 and 12.2.6.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Virtual Function Tables
Polymorphism 15
When the binding of call to implementation takes place at runtime, the address of the called function must be managed dynamically. The presence of a virtual function in a class causes the generation of a virtual function table (vtbl) for the class, and an association to that table in each object of that type:
Nom Addr Person object
Print Person vtbl
Person::Print() Code
This increases the size of each object, but only by the size of one pointer. Key fact: if a function is virtual in a base class, it's also virtual in the derived class, whether it's declared virtual there or not.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Derived Class View
So for a Professor object we'd have:
Polymorphism 16
Nom Addr . . . Professor object
Print
Professor::Print() Code
Professor vtbl
In this simple case, the derived object has its own implementation to replace the single virtual function inherited from the base class. That's often NOT the case. Then, one or more of the derived class vtbl pointers will target the base class implementation but first we have another problem to address.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Base Class Shortcomings
Polymorphism 17
The attempt to call Professor::setID() below is illegal because the class that corresponds to the pointer type doesn't have a matching function:
Professor JoeBob(/*. . .*/); Person* pPer = &JoeBob; pPer->setID("P0007"); // illegal
We could fix this by adding a corresponding virtual function to the base type Person, but such a function doesn't make any sense since Person doesn't store an ID string. Nevertheless, designers often resort to clumsy fixes like this to make a hierarchy work. If we add Person::setID() as a virtual protected function, it is invisible to Person clients but can still be overridden in derived classes. Unfortunately that would not fix the access problem in the code above.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
Pure Virtual Functions
Polymorphism 18
The problem here is somewhat nasty we can add an unsuitable public member function to the base class, or we can resort to placing a pure virtual function in the base class:
class Person { private: Name Nom; Address Addr; public: // . . . virtual Person& setID(const string& I) = 0; virtual void Print(ostream& Out); // . . . };
A pure virtual function does not have an implementation. This means it is no longer possible to declare an object of type Person. A class that cannot be instantiated is called an abstract class.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
A Design Lesson
Polymorphism 19
We will adopt this approach, making Person an abstract base class for the entire hierarchy. This has some costs a number of the member functions in the derived classes (chiefly constructors) must be revised because it is now impossible to declare an object of type Person, even anonymously. We would have been much better off if this decision had been made early, before so many derived classes were implemented. On the other hand, it is very common to have an abstract base class, usually because in the end that base class turns out to be so general (or so problematic) that we will never instantiate it.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
The Revised Person class
Here is our revised base class:
Polymorphism 20
class Person { private: Name Nom; Address Addr; public: Person(const Name& N = Name(), const Address& A = Address()); Person& setAddress(const Address& newAddr); Address getAddress() const; Name getName() const; Person& setName(const Name& N); virtual Person& setID(const string& I) = 0; virtual string getID() const = 0; virtual void Print(ostream& Out); virtual ~Person(); };
Note that the constructor is retained because it is useful in the derived type constructors.
Computer Science Dept Va Tech January 2002
OO Software Design and Construction
2002 McQuain WD & Keller BJ
The Revised Employee class
class Employee : public Person { private: string Dept; string I...