CHAPTER 4

POLYMORPHISM
Er. Ganga Gautam

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 OUTLINES
1. Introduction to Polymorphism
2. Types of Polymorphism: Compile Time Polymorphism: Function
Overloading, Operator Overloading Runtime Polymorphism: Virtual
Function
3. Overloading Unary and Binary Operators
4. Function Overriding
5. this Pointer and Object Pointer
6. Pure Virtual Function, Abstract Class
7. Virtual Destructor
8. Type Conversion: Basic to User-Defined, User-Defined to Basic, User-
defined to User-Defined
5.1 Polymorphism
• Greek words: poly means many
and morph means forms.
• It simply means more than one
form. That is, the same entity
(function or operator) behaves
differently in different scenarios.

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5.1 Polymorphism (contd.)
• Polymorphism is an important concept of object-oriented programming.
• The + operator in C++ is used to perform two specific functions.
• When it is used with numbers (integers and floating-point numbers), it performs
addition.
• And when we use the + operator with strings, it performs string concatenation.
• Polymorphism is the concept with the help of which single action in different ways
can be performed.

• In OOP, polymorphism refers to

identically named function members
that have different behavior depending
on the type of object they have.
• Basically, we can define it as the ability
for derived classes to redefine methods.

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Ways of implementing polymorphism:
1. Function overloading
2. Operator overloading
3. Function overriding
4. Virtual functions

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5.2. Types of polymorphism

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5.2. Types of polymorphism (contd.)
1. Compile-Time Polymorphism:
• Choosing member function in a normal way during compilation time is
called Compile-time polymorphism.
• implemented using the overloaded functions and operators.
• The overloaded member functions are ‘selected’ for invoking by
matching arguments, both type and number.
• This information is known to the compiler at the compile time and,
therefore compiler is able to select the appropriate function for a
particular call at the compile time itself.
• This is called early binding or static binding or static linking.
• Early binding simply means that an object is bound to its function call at
compile time.

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5.2. Types of polymorphism
2. Run-Time Polymorphism:
• Choosing member function during execution time is called Run-time
polymorphism.
• The compiler does not know about the correct form of the function to be
called.
• The correct form of the function is selected to call on the basis of
content of calling object at run time.
• Also called Late-binding or Dynamic Binding or Dynamic Linkage.
• C++ supports a mechanism known as virtual function to achieve runtime
polymorphism.

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5.3 Function Overloading
• Function Overloading is defined as
the process of having two or more
functions within a class having
same name, but different in
parameters.
• Function overloading is done in
two ways:
– By changing number of arguments or
parameter.
– By changing the data type

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Function Overloading : Sample program

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Operator Overloading
• Operator overloading refers to the use of an operator for different purposes in different
data types.
• To add two integers, + operator is used.
• However, for user-defined types (like objects), we can redefine the way operator works.
• For example: If there are two objects of a class that contains string as its data members,
we can redefine the meaning of + operator and use it to concatenate those strings.
• The operator to be overloaded is defined using the operator keyword.
• Below is the list of operators that are not overloaded:

Scope resolution ::
operator
Size of operator sizeof
Dot operator .
Pointer selector *
Ternary operator ?:

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Operator Overloading (Contd.)
• To overload an operator, a special operator function is defined
inside the class (Implicit declaration) as: • Eg:

• Where;
– returnType is the type of the data that is to be returned
by the specified operator() function.
– Operator is the function name for operator overloading.
– symbol is the operator that is being overloaded (i.e. + , ++,
etc)
– arguments list receives the values.

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5.4 Operator Overloading (Contd.)
• If defined outside the class (Explicit
declaration), the general form is as: • Eg:

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Sample program 1

• This function is called when ++ operator

operates on the object of Test class (object t in
this case).
• In the program, void operator ++ () operator
function is defined (inside Test class).
• This function increments the value of count by
1 for t object.

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5.4.1 Operator arguments and ReturnType
Like any other functions,
an overloaded operator
has a return type and a
parameter list.

Return Type:
• The return type of
operator function is
always a class type,
• because the operator
overloading is only for
objects.

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5.4.1 Operator arguments
• Operator function should be:
– either member function or
– a friend function.

• An operator function, as a member function, • An operator function, as a friend function,

requires: require:
– one argument for binary operators and – two arguments for binary operators and
– no argument for unary operator. – one argument for unary operator.
• When operator function (as member function) • When operator function (as friend function) is
is called, called,
– the calling object is passed implicitly to the – it is essential to pass the objects by value or
function and hence available for member reference.
function.

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5.4.2 Types of Operator overloading
i. Unary operator overloading
ii. Binary operator overloading

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i) Unary Operator overloading
• The operator that requires only one operand to perform its operation are
known as unary operators.
• Examples of Unary operators:
– unary minus (-),
– unary plus (+),
– increment (++),
– decrement(--),
– logical not (!), etc.
• The operations in which unary operators are overloaded are known as
Unary operator overloading.

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 Sample program 1: WAP to overload unary minus (-).

• In the above program, the minus (-) operator is overloaded.

• This operator is used to make negative value of built-in
datatype x, and
• the same minus (-) operator is also applied to user-defined
datatype ob which calls the function operator-().

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The same above program can be written as:

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 Sample program 2: WAP to overload increment operator (++) in prefix notation.

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 Sample program 3: WAP to overload increment operator (++) in postfix notation.

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 Practise:
1. WAP to overload decrement operator (--) in prefix notation.
2. WAP to overload decrement operator (--) in postfix notation.
3. WAP to input x and y coordinate and move 4 units from both x and y
direction by overloading unary ++ operator in prefix notation.
4. WAP to input x and y coordinate and move 4 units from both x and y
direction by overloading unary ++ operator in postfix notation.

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ii) Binary Operator overloading
• The operators which require two operand for its operations
are known as binary operators.
• Examples of binary operators :
– binary plus(+),
– binary minus(-),
– greater than(>), equal to (==) , etc.
• The operations in which the binary operators are overloaded
are known as binary operator overloading.

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 Sample program 1 :
WAP to overload binary plus (+) operator for addition of two distances expressed in m and cm.

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 Sample program 2 :
WAP to overload binary plus (+) operator for concatenation of two input strings.

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 The above program can also be coded as:

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 Sample program 3 :
WAP to overload binary plus (+) operator for addition of two complex numbers.

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 Practise:
1. WAP to overload less than relational operator (<)
2. WAP to overload equality operator (==)
3. WAP to enter two amount of money in terms of rupees and paisa and
then add them using binary plus (+) operator overloading.

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5.4.3 Operator Overloading using Friend function
• Friend function can be used as operator function in place
of member function for overloading of operators.
• The only difference is that a friend function require:
– only one argument for unary operators and
– two arguments for binary operators
to be explicitly passed to it.
• As the friend function is non-member function of a class,
it is called without object.
• Therefore, there is no calling object and all objects are
passed in operator function via arguments.

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 Sample program :
WAP to overload unary minus (-) operator using friend function.

For other sample programs:

Please refer:
A textbook of Object Oriented
Programming in C++, Ram Datta
Bhatta, pp159-166

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5.5 Function Overriding
• Function overriding is the use of two or
more functions having same name and
argument types, but defined one in the
base class and other in derived class.
• The instance of base class is replaced (or
overridden) by the instance of child class.
• Function overriding cannot be done
within a class.
• However, when a function with same
name and signature is defined in base
class and derived class, ambiguity occurs.
• Such ambiguity is resolved in two ways:
– Using scope resolution operator
– Using virtual function.

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5.5 Function Overriding : Sample program

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5.5 Function Overriding : Resolved

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5.6 Virtual Function overriding
• A Virtual function is a member function declared in a base
class with keyword virtual and referenced by derived class.
• Virtual means existing in effect but not in reality.
• Once a function is declared virtual, it remains virtual all the
way down the inheritance hierarchy.
• For accessing the derived class function members, the base
class pointers are used to point derived class objects.

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5.6 Virtual Function overriding : Sample program

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5.6 Virtual Function overriding : Sample program
• In the above example, if the function show() in the Base class was not defined
as virtual, then the Base class pointer (*b) would always call the base class
version of show() and the output would be:

• This was because the C++ compiler ignores the content of b (which is address
of obj1 after statement p=&obj1; ) and execute the function which is inherited
from class Base because the type b matches with class Base.
• Similarly, after statement p=&obj2; and p->show(); , the compiler again
executes the function which is inherited from class Base.
• Whenever this type of situation occurs (i.e.in derived class, there are two
functions, both have the same name: one inherited from base and another of
its own, and the pointer is Base type), then we want to execute the function
through pointer, compiler chooses the function of Base class. So, to overcome
this situation, we have to make the base class function as virtual.
• Thus the use of same function call at different places produces different result
at run time. Hence, it provides the concept of polymorphism.

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WAP to create a class Figure with dim1 and dim2 as data members and constructor to initialize its data. Create a derived class called
Triangle and define a member function area() in it to calculate the area of triangle. Create another derived class Rectangle and define a
member function area() to calculate the area of rectangle. Implement this program using the concept of runtime polymorphism.

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5.7 Pure Polymorphism
• A pure virtual function is a virtual function in the base class and has
no body with it.
• They are just declared inside the base class and redefined in derived
class.
• Pure virtual functions are also called “Do nothing” functions.
• In such cases, the compiler requires each derived class to either
define the function or redeclare it as a pure virtual function.
• Pure virtual function cannot be used to declare any object of its
own.
• The main objective of abstract base class (ABC) is to provide some
facilities to the derived class and to create a base pointer required
for achieving runtime polymorphism.
• General syntax for do-nothing function is:
virtual Return-type function-name()=0;
• Eg:
virtual void show()=0;

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5.7 Pure Polymorphism: Sample program

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5.7 Pure Polymorphism: Sample program

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5.7 Pure Polymorphism: Sample program

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5.8 Type conversion
• If an expression contains different types of data like integer
and float in left and right hand side, then the compiler
automatically converts from one type to another type by
applying type conversion rule provided by the compiler.
• The automatic type conversion means that the right side of
the data is automatically converted to the left side type.
• This type of conversion rules cannot be applied in case of
user-defined datatypes.
• In user-defined datatypes, we must define conversion
routines ourselves.
• The possible types are:
1. Conversion from basic type to another basic type
2. Conversion from basic type to class type
3. Conversion from class type to basic type
4. Conversion from one class type to another class type

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1. Basic type to Another Basic type
• Dataypes like int, float, double, long, long double, char etc are basic
datatypes.
• We can convert one basic data type into another.
• There are two types of conversion: implicit and explicit.

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1. Basic type to Another Basic type
Implicit conversion: Explicit conversion:
• It is also known as automatic conversion, • This is also known as Type casting.
or promotion or widening. • The conversion of one datatype into
• This does not require any operator and is another datatype is performed by
performed by compiler itself. programmer as per the need.
• Eg: • Eg:

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2. Basic type to Class type
• The conversion from basic to user defined data types (class type) can be
done using :
– constructors with one argument of basic type.
• General form:

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2. Basic type to Class type : Sample program
WAP to convert temperature in Fahrenheit into Celsius using type conversion from basic type
to class type.

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3. Class type to Basic type
• Conversion from Class type(user-defined type) to basic data type is done by overloading the
casting operator of basic type as a member function.
• Operator function is defined as an overloaded basic data type which takes no arguments.
• Return type of operator is not specified because the casting operator function itself specifies
the return type.
• The casting operator function should satisfy the following condition:
– It must be a class member.
– It must not specify any return type.
– It must not have any arguments.
• Syntax

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3. Class type to Basic type : Sample program

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4. One ClassType to another ClassType
• The conversion form object of one class to object of another
class can be performed using:
– either one-argument constructor, or
– a conversion function.
• The choice depends upon whether the conversion routine is
declared in:
a) the source class, or
b) the destination class.

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a) Routine in Source Object
• When the conversion routine is in the source class, it is performed using a
conversion function.
• The syntax of conversion function will be:

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 a) Routine in Source Object: Sample program
Define two classes Rectangular and Polar to
represent the point in polar and rectangular form
and use conversion routine to convert from one
form to another(i.e convert object of class Polar
into object of class Rectangular).

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a) Routine in Source Object: Sample program
• Here, in the above program, the data members in the Polar class is float type (i.e.
Polar type).
• This is converted into Rectangular type (i.e. int type).
• If we had declared as int xr, yr; in the class Rectangular, our output would be.

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b) Routine in Destination Object
• When the conversion routine is in the destination class, we use a one-
argument constructor.

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b) Routine in Destination Object: Sample program

main( )

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b) Routine in Destination Object: Sample program
• Here, in the above program, the data members in the Polar class is float
type (i.e. Polar type).
• This is converted into Rectangular type (i.e. int type).
• If we had declared as float xr, yr; in the class Rectangular, our output
would be.

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5.9 This pointer
• The member function of every object have access to a
pointer named this, which point to the object itself.
• When we call a member function, it comes into existence
with the value of this set to the address of the object for
which it was called.
• The this pointer can be treated like any other pointer to an
object.

Characteristics of this pointer:

• this pointer stores the address of invoking object of the class.
• this pointers are not accessible for static member functions.
• this pointers are not modifiable.

Uses of this pointer:

• To specify memory address of an object.
• To access data members.

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5.9 This pointer : Sample program

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5.10 Object Pointer
• Just like other pointers, the object pointer are declared by placing in
front of an object’s name.
• General syntax is :
Class_name * ObjectPointerName;
• Eg:
Demo * p;
• The object pointer should reference the object to which it has to
point.
• Eg:
p=&ob;
• When accessing members of a class using an object pointer the
Arrow Operator ( -> ) is used instead of the Dot ( . ) operator.
• Eg:
p-> showdata();

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5.10 Object Pointer : Sample program

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5.11 Polymorphic variable
• Polymorphic variables are variables that can
refer to a variety of objects of different type
during the execution of a program.
• The types to which a polymorphic variable
refers are not necessarily the type of the
polymorphic variable itself.
• It has two types:
a) Static type
b) Dynamic type

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a) Static Type
• The type used in the declaration of a polymorphic variable is called the
static type.
• In C++, a polymorphic variable is declared in several ways, including:

i) As a pointer to an object of related type, ii) As a by-reference parameter to

• Eg: an object of related type.
• Eg:
• Here p is a polymorphic variable.

• Here ob is a polymorphic
variable.

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b) Dynamic Type
• The type of the object referred by a polymorphic variable is called
dynamic type.
• The dynamic type need not to be the same as the static type.
• The dynamic type may depend upon the execution path through the
program.
• Eg:

• Here ob is a polymorphic variable.

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 End of Chapter 4

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