Why doesn't C++ allow you to request a pointer to the most derived class?
- by Matthew Lowe
(This question should probably be answered with a reference to Stroustrup.)
It seems extremely useful to be able to request a pointer to the most derived class, as in the following:
class Base { ... };
class DerivedA { ... };
class DerivedB { ... };
class Processor
{
public:
void Do(Base* b) {...}
void Do(DerivedA* d) {...}
void Do(DerivedB* d) {...}
};
list<Base*> things;
Processor p;
for(list<Base*>::iterator i=things.begin(), e=things.end(); i!=e; ++i)
{
p.Do(CAST_TO_MOST_DERIVED_CLASS(*i));
}
But this mechanism isn't provided in c++. Why?
