Virtual Functions in C++ : Complete Tutorial

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One term which must be defined is polymorphism, a rather large word that simply means similar when used in the context of object oriented programming. Objects are polymorphic if they have some similarities but are still somewhat different. We will see how it is used in the context of object oriented programming as we proceed.
We have already studied operator overloading and function overloading in this tutorial, and they are a subtle form of polymorphism since in both cases, a single entity is used to refer to two or more things. The use of virtual functions can be a great aid in programming some kinds of projects as you will see in these two chapters.

So what is a Virtual Function?

A Virtual function is a function whic is declared in base class using the keyword virtual. We write the body of virtual function in the derived classes. Its purpose is to tell the compiler that what function we would like to call on the basis of the object of derived class. C++ determines which function to call at run time on the type of object pointer to.  more...