Struct Inheritance in C

Question

Can I inherit a structure in C? If yes, how?

Answer 1

C is not an object-oriented language and hence has no inheritance.

Answer 2

The closest you can get is the fairly common idiom:

typedef struct
{
    // base members

} Base;

typedef struct
{
    Base base;

    // derived members

} Derived;

As Derived starts with a copy of Base, you can do this:

Base *b = (Base *)d;

Where d is an instance of Derived. So they are kind of polymorphic. But having virtual methods is another challenge - to do that, you'd need to have the equivalent of a vtable pointer in Base, containing function pointers to functions that accept Base as their first argument (which you could name this).

By which point, you may as well use C++!

Answer 3

If you want to use some gcc magic (that I would assume would work with Microsoft's C compiler) you can do something like:

struct A
{
   int member1;
};

struct B
{
   struct A;
   int member2;
}

With gcc you can compile this with -fms-extensions (Allows for unnamed struct members like Microsofts compiler does). This is similar to the solution given by Daniel Earwicker except that it allows you to access memeber1 on a struct B instance. i.e B.member1 instead of B.A.member1.

This is probably not the most portable approach and will not work if using a C++ compiler (different language semantics mean that it is redeclaring/defining struct A instead of instantiating it).

If however you live in the gcc/C land only it will work and do exactly what you want.

Answer 4

No, you cant. imo the best approach to OOP in C is using ADT.

Answer 5

This works compiling with -fms-extensions

Diagram image

main.c

#include "AbstractProduct.h"
#include "Book.h"
#include "Product.h"
#include "TravelGuide.h"

/***********************/

int main() {

    Product p = Product_new();  
    p.set_id(&p, 2);
    p.set_name(&p, "name2");
    p.set_description(&p, "description2");
    p.set_price(&p, 2000);  
    p.display(&p);

    TravelGuide tg = TravelGuide_new(); 
    tg.set_id(&tg, 1);
    tg.set_name(&tg, "name1");
    tg.set_description(&tg, "description1");        
    tg.set_price(&tg, 1000);
    tg.set_isbn(&tg, "isbn1");
    tg.set_author(&tg, "author1");
    tg.set_title(&tg, "title1");
    tg.set_country(&tg, "country1");
    tg.display(&tg);

}

AbstractProduct.c

#include "AbstractProduct.h"

/*-------------------------------*/

static void set_id(AbstractProduct *this, int id) {
    this->id = id;
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static void set_name(AbstractProduct *this, char *name) {
    strcpy(this->name, name);
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static void set_description(AbstractProduct *this, char *description) {
    strcpy(this->description, description);
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static int get_id(AbstractProduct *this) {
    return this->id;    
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static char *get_name(AbstractProduct *this) {
    return this->name;  
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static char *get_description(AbstractProduct *this) {
    return this->description;   
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static void display(AbstractProduct *this) {

    printf("-AbstractProduct- \n"); 
    printf("id: %d\n", this->get_id(this)); 
    printf("name: %s\n", this->get_name(this)); 
    printf("description: %s\n", this->get_description(this));   
    printf("\n");
}

/*-------------------------------*/

void AbstractProduct_init(AbstractProduct *obj) {

    obj->set_id = set_id;
    obj->set_name = set_name;
    obj->set_description = set_description; 
    obj->get_id = get_id;
    obj->get_name = get_name;
    obj->get_description = get_description;
    obj->display = display;

}

/*-------------------------------*/

AbstractProduct AbstractProduct_new() {

    AbstractProduct aux;
    AbstractProduct_init(&aux);
    return aux;
}

AbstractProduct.h

#ifndef AbstractProduct_H
#define AbstractProduct_H

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

/***********************/

typedef struct AbstractProduct{

    int id;
    char name[1000];
    char description[1000];

    void (*set_id)();
    void (*set_name)();
    void (*set_description)();  
    int (*get_id)();    
    char *(*get_name)();    
    char *(*get_description)(); 
    void (*display)();  

} AbstractProduct;

AbstractProduct AbstractProduct_new();
void AbstractProduct_init(AbstractProduct *obj);

#endif

Book.c

#include "Book.h"

/*-------------------------------*/

static void set_isbn(Book *this, char *isbn) {
    strcpy(this->isbn, isbn);
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static void set_author(Book *this, char *author) {
    strcpy(this->author, author);
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static void set_title(Book *this, char *title) {
    strcpy(this->title, title);
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static char *get_isbn(Book *this) {
    return this->isbn;  
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static char *get_author(Book *this) {
    return this->author;    
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static char *get_title(Book *this) {
    return this->title; 
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static void display(Book *this) {

    Product p = Product_new();
    p.display(this);    

    printf("-Book- \n");
    printf("isbn: %s\n", this->get_isbn(this)); 
    printf("author: %s\n", this->get_author(this)); 
    printf("title: %s\n", this->get_title(this));   
    printf("\n");
}

/*-------------------------------*/

void Book_init(Book *obj) {

    Product_init((Product*)obj);

    obj->set_isbn = set_isbn;
    obj->set_author = set_author;
    obj->set_title = set_title; 
    obj->get_isbn = get_isbn;
    obj->get_author = get_author;
    obj->get_title = get_title; 
    obj->display = display;
}
/*-------------------------------*/

Book Book_new() {

    Book aux;   
    Book_init(&aux);
    return aux;
}

Book.h

#ifndef Book_H
#define Book_H

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

#include "Product.h"

/***********************/

typedef struct Book{

    Product;
    char isbn[1000];
    char author[1000];
    char title[1000];

    void (*set_isbn)();
    void (*set_author)();
    void (*set_title)();    

    char *(*get_isbn)();
    char *(*get_author)();
    char *(*get_title)();   
    // void (*display)();   


} Book;

Book Book_new();
void Book_init(Book *obj);

#endif

Product.c

#include "Product.h"

/*-------------------------------*/

static void set_price(Product *this, double price) {
    this->price = price;
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static double get_price(Product *this) {
    return this->price; 
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static void display(Product *this) {

    AbstractProduct p = AbstractProduct_new();
    p.display(this);    

    printf("-Product- \n"); 
    printf("price: %f\n", this->get_price(this));   
    printf("\n");
}

/*-------------------------------*/

void Product_init(Product *obj) {

    AbstractProduct_init((AbstractProduct*)obj);

    obj->set_price = set_price;
    obj->get_price = get_price; 
    obj->display = display;

}

/*-------------------------------*/

Product Product_new() {

    Product aux;    
    Product_init(&aux);
    return aux;
}

Product.h

#ifndef Product_H
#define Product_H

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include "AbstractProduct.h"

/***********************/

typedef struct Product{

    AbstractProduct;
    double price;

    void (*set_price)();
    double (*get_price)();  
    // void (*display)();   

} Product;

Product Product_new();
void Product_init(Product *obj);

#endif

TravelGuide.c

#include "TravelGuide.h"

/*-------------------------------*/

static void set_country(TravelGuide *this, char *country) {
    strcpy(this->country, country);
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static char *get_country(TravelGuide *this) {
    return this->country;   
}

/*-------------------------------*/

static void display(TravelGuide *this) {

    Book b = Book_new();
    b.display(this);

    printf("-TravelGuide- \n"); 
    printf("country: %s\n", this->get_country(this));   
    printf("\n");
}

/*-------------------------------*/

void TravelGuide_init(TravelGuide *obj) {

    Book_init((Book*)obj);
    obj->set_country = set_country;
    obj->get_country = get_country;
    obj->f = obj->display;
    obj->display = display;

}

/*-------------------------------*/

TravelGuide TravelGuide_new() {

    TravelGuide aux;
    TravelGuide_init(&aux);
    return aux;
}

TravelGuide.h

#ifndef TravelGuide_H
#define TravelGuide_H

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

#include "Book.h"

/***********************/

typedef struct TravelGuide{

    Book;
    char country[1000];
    void (*f)();

    void (*set_country)();
    char *(*get_country)();
    // void *(*display)();

} TravelGuide;

TravelGuide TravelGuide_new();
void TravelGuide_init(TravelGuide *obj);

#endif

Makefile

.PHONY: clean
define ANNOUNCE_BODY

    ***********************************************
    ************          start make **************
    ***********************************************
endef

all:
    $(info $(ANNOUNCE_BODY))    

    clear;
    if [ -f binary/main ]; then rm binary/main; fi;

# compiler 

    gcc $(INC) -c -fms-extensions main.c -o binary/main.o
    gcc $(INC) -c -fms-extensions AbstractProduct.c -o binary/AbstractProduct.o
    gcc $(INC) -c -fms-extensions Product.c -o binary/Product.o
    gcc $(INC) -c -fms-extensions Book.c -o binary/Book.o
    gcc $(INC) -c -fms-extensions TravelGuide.c -o binary/TravelGuide.o

# linker    

    gcc binary/main.o \
        binary/AbstractProduct.o \
        binary/Product.o \
        binary/Book.o \
        binary/TravelGuide.o \
        -o \
        binary/main

Answer 6

I like and used the idea of Typesafe inheritance in C.

For example:

struct Animal
{
    int weight;
};

struct Felidae
{
    union {
      struct Animal animal;
    } base;
    int furLength;
};

struct Leopard
{
    union {
      struct Animal animal;
      struct Felidae felidae;
    } base;

    int dotCounter;
};

Usage:

struct Leopard leopard;
leopard.base.animal.weight = 44;
leopard.base.felidae.furLength = 2;
leopard.dotCounter = 99;