Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour.

From:
Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:11:19 +0000
Message-ID:
<8YydncsNDvDiD4nSnZ2dnUVZ8oGdnZ2d@giganews.com>
On 16/01/2012 21:08, Leigh Johnston wrote:

On 16/01/2012 20:49, Paul <pchrist wrote:

"Leigh Johnston"<leigh@i42.co.uk> wrote in message
news:iZudnd3HOcZeFInSnZ2dnUVZ8sudnZ2d@giganews.com...

On 16/01/2012 19:15, Paul<pchrist wrote:

"Leigh Johnston"<leigh@i42.co.uk> wrote in message
news:Ze6dneM27chs94nSnZ2dnUVZ8sednZ2d@giganews.com...

[snip]

A pure virtual function with a definition is not "just an
Interface"; a
pure virtual function with a definition is simply a virtual function
that
must be overridden.


It's still a pure virtual function, but it provides a default
definition.
However that default definition must be invoked from a non abstract
derived
class thus preserving the interface concept of PVF's.

Just because a virtual function must be overridden does not mean that
it
makes no sense for its own implementation to be called within the
context
of the class's ctor or dtor; what makes sense depends on the overall
object oriented design of the system of which the virtual function
plays
a
part.


Now wait, you have evolved to suggest that the PVF is now simply a
normal
virtual function that must be overridden but this is not the case.

A normal virtual function is inherited and thus can be overridden.
With a
PVF there is no inheritence so it cannot be overridden, i.e:

class Base{
public:
virtual void foo();
};
void Base::foo(){std::cout<<"Base foo...\n";}

class Derived : public Base{
public:
//virtual void foo(){std::cout<<"Derived foo..\n";}
};

int main(){
Derived d;
Base* bp =&d;
bp->foo();
}

The above shows how the normal virtual function is inherited and if
Derived::foo is uncommented it would override the Base::foo. But if you
make
Base:foo pure virtual, Derived won't inherit Base::foo at all. If
Base::foo
is pure virtual it must be *implemented*, not overridden, in Derived:


What garbage. My use of the term "overridden" is not incorrect and pure
virtual functions can be inherited.


You can't inherit the definition, if I am wrong show me some code that
does
this.


Wrong; see below.

From "C++ In A Nutshell":

"A derived class can override a pure virtual function and provide a body
for it, override it and declare it pure again, or simply inherit the
pure
function."


This is talking about inheriting the pure virtual function, as a PVF
without
a definition. This is not talking about inheriting and overridding the
definition of a PVF , which is what you were talking about.


No it isn't; you don't know what you are talking about as usual. Whether
or not a pure virtual function has a definition has no bearing on the
fact that it must be implemented in some derived class or on how it is
inherited. Some code:

struct foo
{
virtual void f() = 0;
};

void foo::f() {}

struct bar : foo
{
// does bar inherit foo::f()?
};

struct baz : bar
{
virtual void f() { bar::foo(); } // yes, bar does inherit foo::f().
};


That should be:

struct baz : bar
{
   virtual void f() { bar::f(); } // yes, bar does inherit foo::f().
};

/Leigh

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