22. Run-Time Type Information

Premature optimization is the root of all evil.

– Donald Knuth

On the other hand, we cannot ignore efficiency.

– Jon Bentley

• Introduction

• Class Hierarchy Navigation

dynamic cast; Multiple Inheritance; static_cast and dynamic_cast; Recovering an Interface

• Double Dispatch and Visitors

Double Dispatch; Visitors

• Construction and Destruction

• Type Identification

Extended Type Information

• Uses and Misuses of RTTI

• Advice

22.1. Introduction

In general, a class is constructed from a lattice of base classes. Such a class lattice is often called a class hierarchy. We try to design classes so that users need not be unduly concerned about the way a class is composed out of other classes. In particular, the virtual ...

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