
186 ◾ Software Essentials
runtime—the compiler does not resolve virtual function calls. By waiting
until runtime to bind a function call to actual function code, function
selection is postponed and thus can vary at runtime. When a function
call is not permanently associated with a specic function address, so-
ware is more exible. Subtype polymorphism thus enables the design of
exible and extensible soware because of dynamic binding. In the next
section,we trace a sample class design, comparing static and dynamic
binding.
7.3 STATIC BINDING VERSUS DYNAMIC BINDING
Conceptually, a function call is a JUMP statement where, at the point ...