Why do we need virtual functions in C++?

Question

I\'m learning C++ and I\'m just getting into virtual functions.

From what I\'ve read (in the book and online), virtual functions are functions in the base class that

Answer 1

Here is a merged version of the C++ code for the first two answers.

#include        
#include        

using   namespace       std;

class   Animal
{
        public:
#ifdef  VIRTUAL
                virtual string  says()  {       return  "??";   }
#else
                string  says()  {       return  "??";   }
#endif
};

class   Dog:    public Animal
{
        public:
                string  says()  {       return  "woof"; }
};

string  func(Animal *a)
{
        return  a->says();
}

int     main()
{
        Animal  *a = new Animal();
        Dog     *d = new Dog();
        Animal  *ad = d;

        cout << "Animal a says\t\t" << a->says() << endl;
        cout << "Dog d says\t\t" << d->says() << endl;
        cout << "Animal dog ad says\t" << ad->says() << endl;

        cout << "func(a) :\t\t" <<      func(a) <<      endl;
        cout << "func(d) :\t\t" <<      func(d) <<      endl;
        cout << "func(ad):\t\t" <<      func(ad)<<      endl;
}

Two different results are:

Without #define virtual, it binds at compile time. Animal *ad and func(Animal *) all point to the Animal's says() method.

$ g++ virtual.cpp -o virtual
$ ./virtual 
Animal a says       ??
Dog d says      woof
Animal dog ad says  ??
func(a) :       ??
func(d) :       ??
func(ad):       ??

With #define virtual, it binds at run time. Dog *d, Animal *ad and func(Animal *) point/refer to the Dog's says() method as Dog is their object type. Unless [Dog's says() "woof"] method is not defined, it will be the one searched first in the class tree, i.e. derived classes may override methods of their base classes [Animal's says()].

$ g++ virtual.cpp -D VIRTUAL -o virtual
$ ./virtual 
Animal a says       ??
Dog d says      woof
Animal dog ad says  woof
func(a) :       ??
func(d) :       woof
func(ad):       woof

It is interesting to note that all class attributes (data and methods) in Python are effectively virtual. Since all objects are dynamically created at runtime, there is no type declaration or a need for keyword virtual. Below is Python's version of code:

class   Animal:
        def     says(self):
                return  "??"

class   Dog(Animal):
        def     says(self):
                return  "woof"

def     func(a):
        return  a.says()

if      __name__ == "__main__":

        a = Animal()
        d = Dog()
        ad = d  #       dynamic typing by assignment

        print("Animal a says\t\t{}".format(a.says()))
        print("Dog d says\t\t{}".format(d.says()))
        print("Animal dog ad says\t{}".format(ad.says()))

        print("func(a) :\t\t{}".format(func(a)))
        print("func(d) :\t\t{}".format(func(d)))
        print("func(ad):\t\t{}".format(func(ad)))

The output is:

Animal a says       ??
Dog d says      woof
Animal dog ad says  woof
func(a) :       ??
func(d) :       woof
func(ad):       woof

which is identical to C++'s virtual define. Note that d and ad are two different pointer variables referring/pointing to the same Dog instance. The expression (ad is d) returns True and their values are the same <main.Dog object at 0xb79f72cc>.