Class Procedures

What are the benefits from using virtual
and where do inline functions fit in
and when should inline be invoked


Can anyone give us some background information
on how these class procedures interact


Marky_Mark

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What are the benefits from using virtual

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If by this you mean virtual functions, then they allow the correct class methods to be called at runtime, given the base pointer. This also means that classes that are inherited and use virtual methods can be stored in generic containers (you don't need a seperate list/array for each class type).

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where do inline functions fit in
and when should inline be invoked

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Any class method that has it's implementaion included in the declaration is considered inline, or the implementation can be external and still be inline by explicitly specifying them as inline as you would global functions. They should only be used for small functions that are used often, in which case they'll speed your program up. If you use them on large functions they'll cause code bloat which will increase the chances of cache misses which will slow your program down.

Im still lost...


Is it cause virtuals are global and visible to all
derived base classes or are virtuals visible to all
classes derived or not


Does inline act as an additional constructor to it's
base class


I think i need to buy a book or two?


Marky_Mark

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Is it cause virtuals are global and visible to all
derived base classes or are virtuals visible to all
classes derived or not

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No, it depends on the implementation but it's something like each class has a hidden table of function pointers (a v-table) and a pointer that points to the correct function for each instance.

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Does inline act as an additional constructor to it's
base class

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No inlining is independent from inheritance and polymorphism.

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I think i need to buy a book or two?

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Yes.

Thanks zen
:)


Marky_Mark