class Material
{
public:
void foo()
{
cout << "Class Material";
}
};
class Unusual_Material : public Material
{
public:
void foo()
{
cout << "Class Unusual_Material";
}
};
int main()
{
Material strange = Unusual_Material();
strange.foo(); //outputs "Class Material"
return 0;
}
I would like for this to result in the "Class Unusual_Material" being displayed to the console. Is there a way I can achieve this? In my program I have a class Material from which other more specific materials are derived. The method Material::foo() represents a method in Material that is adequate for most materials, but occationally, another foo() needs to be defined for a material with unusual properties.
All objects in my program contain a Material field. In the event that they are assigned an unusual material, I would like the derived, unusual foo to be called.
This is probably either pretty easy, or impossible, but I can't figure it out either way.
Thanks
What you want is polymorphism, and to enable it for a function you need to make it virtual
:
class Material
{
public:
virtual void foo() // Note virtual keyword!
{
cout << "Class Material";
}
};
class Unusual_Material : public Material
{
public:
void foo() // Will override foo() in the base class
{
cout << "Class Unusual_Material";
}
};
Also, polymorphism only works for references and pointers:
int main()
{
Unusual_Material unusualMaterial;
Material& strange = unusualMaterial;
strange.foo();
return 0;
}
/* OR */
int main()
{
Unusual_Material unusualMaterial;
Material* strange = &unusualMaterial;
strange->foo();
return 0;
}
What you have in your code snippet will slice the Unusual_Material
object:
int main()
{
// Unusual_Material object will be sliced!
Material strange = Unusual_Material();
strange.foo();
return 0;
}