Virtual/pure virtual explained

Question

What exactly does it mean if a function is defined as virtual and is that the same as pure virtual?

Answer 1

"A virtual function or virtual method is a function or method whose behavior can be overridden within an inheriting class by a function with the same signature" - wikipedia

This is not a good explanation for virtual functions. Because, even if a member is not virtual, inheriting classes can override it. You can try and see it yourself.

The difference shows itself when a function take a base class as a parameter. When you give an inheriting class as the input, that function uses the base class implementation of the overriden function. However, if that function is virtual, it uses the one that is implemented in the deriving class.

Answer 2

Virtual methods CAN be overridden by deriving classes, but need an implementation in the base class (the one that will be overridden)

Pure virtual methods have no implementation the base class. They need to be defined by derived classes. (So technically overridden is not the right term, because there's nothing to override).

Virtual corresponds to the default java behaviour, when the derived class overrides a method of the base class.

Pure Virtual methods correspond to the behaviour of abstract methods within abstract classes. And a class that only contains pure virtual methods and constants would be the cpp-pendant to an Interface.

Answer 3

Pure Virtual Function

try this code

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class aClassWithPureVirtualFunction
{

public:

    virtual void sayHellow()=0;

};

class anotherClass:aClassWithPureVirtualFunction
{

public:

    void sayHellow()
    {

        cout<<"hellow World";
    }

};
int main()
{
    //aClassWithPureVirtualFunction virtualObject;
    /*
     This not possible to create object of a class that contain pure virtual function
    */
    anotherClass object;
    object.sayHellow();
}

In class anotherClass remove the function sayHellow and run the code. you will get error!Because when a class contain a pure virtual function, no object can be created from that class and it is inherited then its derived class must implement that function.

Virtual function

try another code

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class aClassWithPureVirtualFunction
{

public:

    virtual void sayHellow()
    {
        cout<<"from base\n";
    }

};

class anotherClass:public aClassWithPureVirtualFunction
{

public:

    void sayHellow()
    {

        cout<<"from derived \n";
    }

};
int main()
{
    aClassWithPureVirtualFunction *baseObject=new aClassWithPureVirtualFunction;
    baseObject->sayHellow();///call base one

    baseObject=new anotherClass;
    baseObject->sayHellow();////call the derived one!

}

Here the sayHellow function is marked as virtual in base class.It say the compiler that try searching the function in derived class and implement the function.If not found then execute the base one.Thanks

Answer 4

"Virtual" means that the method may be overridden in subclasses, but has an directly-callable implementation in the base class. "Pure virtual" means it is a virtual method with no directly-callable implementation. Such a method must be overridden at least once in the inheritance hierarchy -- if a class has any unimplemented virtual methods, objects of that class cannot be constructed and compilation will fail.

@quark points out that pure-virtual methods can have an implementation, but as pure-virtual methods must be overridden, the default implementation can't be directly called. Here is an example of a pure-virtual method with a default:

#include <cstdio>

class A {
public:
    virtual void Hello() = 0;
};

void A::Hello() {
    printf("A::Hello\n");
}

class B : public A {
public:
    void Hello() {
        printf("B::Hello\n");
        A::Hello();
    }
};

int main() {
    /* Prints:
           B::Hello
           A::Hello
    */
    B b;
    b.Hello();
    return 0;
}

---

According to comments, whether or not compilation will fail is compiler-specific. In GCC 4.3.3 at least, it won't compile:

class A {
public:
    virtual void Hello() = 0;
};

int main()
{
    A a;
    return 0;
}

Output:

$ g++ -c virt.cpp 
virt.cpp: In function ‘int main()’:
virt.cpp:8: error: cannot declare variable ‘a’ to be of abstract type ‘A’
virt.cpp:1: note:   because the following virtual functions are pure within ‘A’:
virt.cpp:3: note:   virtual void A::Hello()

Answer 5

I'd like to comment on Wikipedia's definition of virtual, as repeated by several here. [At the time this answer was written,] Wikipedia defined a virtual method as one that can be overridden in subclasses. [Fortunately, Wikipedia has been edited since, and it now explains this correctly.] That is incorrect: any method, not just virtual ones, can be overridden in subclasses. What virtual does is to give you polymorphism, that is, the ability to select at run-time the most-derived override of a method.

Consider the following code:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class Base {
public:
    void NonVirtual() {
        cout << "Base NonVirtual called.\n";
    }
    virtual void Virtual() {
        cout << "Base Virtual called.\n";
    }
};
class Derived : public Base {
public:
    void NonVirtual() {
        cout << "Derived NonVirtual called.\n";
    }
    void Virtual() {
        cout << "Derived Virtual called.\n";
    }
};

int main() {
    Base* bBase = new Base();
    Base* bDerived = new Derived();

    bBase->NonVirtual();
    bBase->Virtual();
    bDerived->NonVirtual();
    bDerived->Virtual();
}

What is the output of this program?

Base NonVirtual called.
Base Virtual called.
Base NonVirtual called.
Derived Virtual called.

Derived overrides every method of Base: not just the virtual one, but also the non-virtual.

We see that when you have a Base-pointer-to-Derived (bDerived), calling NonVirtual calls the Base class implementation. This is resolved at compile-time: the compiler sees that bDerived is a Base*, that NonVirtual is not virtual, so it does the resolution on class Base.

However, calling Virtual calls the Derived class implementation. Because of the keyword virtual, the selection of the method happens at run-time, not compile-time. What happens here at compile-time is that the compiler sees that this is a Base*, and that it's calling a virtual method, so it insert a call to the vtable instead of class Base. This vtable is instantiated at run-time, hence the run-time resolution to the most-derived override.

I hope this wasn't too confusing. In short, any method can be overridden, but only virtual methods give you polymorphism, that is, run-time selection of the most derived override. In practice, however, overriding a non-virtual method is considered bad practice and rarely used, so many people (including whoever wrote that Wikipedia article) think that only virtual methods can be overridden.

Answer 6

From Wikipedia's Virtual function ...

In object-oriented programming, in languages such as C++, and Object Pascal, a virtual function or virtual method is an inheritable and overridable function or method for which dynamic dispatch is facilitated. This concept is an important part of the (runtime) polymorphism portion of object-oriented programming (OOP). In short, a virtual function defines a target function to be executed, but the target might not be known at compile time.

Unlike a non-virtual function, when a virtual function is overridden the most-derived version is used at all levels of the class hierarchy, rather than just the level at which it was created. Therefore if one method of the base class calls a virtual method, the version defined in the derived class will be used instead of the version defined in the base class.

This is in contrast to non-virtual functions, which can still be overridden in a derived class, but the "new" version will only be used by the derived class and below, but will not change the functionality of the base class at all.

whereas..

A pure virtual function or pure virtual method is a virtual function that is required to be implemented by a derived class if the derived class is not abstract.

When a pure virtual method exists, the class is "abstract" and can not be instantiated on its own. Instead, a derived class that implements the pure-virtual method(s) must be used. A pure-virtual isn't defined in the base-class at all, so a derived class must define it, or that derived class is also abstract, and can not be instantiated. Only a class that has no abstract methods can be instantiated.

A virtual provides a way to override the functionality of the base class, and a pure-virtual requires it.