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

Are you familiar with function pointers? Virtual functions are a similar idea, except you can easily bind data to virtual functions (as class members). It is not as easy to bind data to function pointers. To me, this is the main conceptual distinction. A lot of other answers here are just saying "because... polymorphism!"