Types of polymorphism in c++ with example

In this C++ interview questions and answers guide, we will learn about:

• what is polymorphism in c++?
• types of polymorphism in c++ with example

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What is polymorphism in c++?

Polymorphism is an important OOP or Object Oriented Programming concept.

 

Polymorphism is a Greek term which means the ability to take more than one form. In polymorphism, an operation may exhibit different behaviors in different instances.

C++ polymorphism means that a call to a member function cause a different function to be executed depending on the type of object that invokes the function. We will see this with help of program below.

 

Types of polymorphism in c++ with example

Polymorphism can be divided in two parts:

i) Compile time Polymorphism

ii) Run time Polymorphism

 

Compile time Polymorphism

An objects work/functionality is looked under the compile time of the program.

 

This has been done through two ways in C++:

1. function overloading, or
2. operator overloading.

class X  //  base class declaration.  
  {  
       int a;  
       public:  
       void display()  
       {   
             cout<< " You are in Class X ";  
        }  
  };  
class Y : public X //  derived class declaration.  
{  
    int b;  
    public:  
   void display()  
  {  
        cout<<"You are in Class Y";  
  }  
};  

 

Run time Polymorphism

Objects method is invoked at runtime over compile time.

 

Run time polymorphism is acheived through virtual functions and pointers as shown below.

#include <iostream>    
using namespace std;    
class Circle {    
    public:    
void operation(){      
cout<<"Drawing...";      
    }        
};     
class Circle: public Shape      
{      
 public:    
 void operation()      
    {          
 cout<<"Drawing Something...";      
    }      
};    
int main(void) {    
   Circle c  = Circle();      
   c.operation();    
   return 0;    
}    

Output:

Drawing Something...