Summary

In this chapter, we saw how inheritance can be used to combine classes in C++. We saw what a base class is and what a derived class is, how to write a class that derives from another, and how to control the visibility modifier. We talked about how to initialize a base class in a derived one by calling the base class constructor.

We then explained polymorphism and the ability of C++ to dynamically bind a pointer or reference of a derived class to a pointer or reference of the base class. We explained what dispatch for functions is, how it works statically by default, and how we can make it dynamic with the use of the virtual keyword. Following that, we explored how to properly write virtual functions and how we can override them, making sure to mark such overrode functions with the override keyword.

Next, we showed how to define interfaces with abstract base classes and how to use pure virtual methods. We also provided guidelines on how to correctly define interfaces.

Lastly, we delved...