6.

096
IntroductiontoC++ January19,2011
MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology
Lecture 7 Notes: Object-Oriented Programming
(OOP) and Inheritance
Wevealreadyseenhowtodenecompositedatatypesusingclasses.Nowwelltakeastep
backandconsider the programming philosophyunderlyingclasses, knownasobject-oriented
programming (OOP).
1 The Basic Ideas of OOP
Classicproceduralprogramming languages before C++ (suchas C)often focusedon the
questionWhatshouldtheprogramdonext?Thewayyoustructureaprograminthese
languages is:
1. Splititupintoasetoftasksandsubtasks
2. Makefunctionsforthetasks
3. Instructthecomputertoperformtheminsequence
Withlargeamountsofdataand/orlargenumbersoftasks,thismakesforcomplexand
unmaintainable programs.
Considerthetaskofmodelingtheoperationofacar.Suchaprogramwouldhavelotsof
separatevariablesstoringinformationonvariouscarparts,andtheredbenowaytogroup
togetherallthecodethatrelatesto,say,thewheels.Itshardtokeepallthesevariables
andtheconnectionsbetweenallthefunctionsinmind.
Tomanagethiscomplexity,itsnicertopackageupself-sucient,modularpiecesofcode.
People think of the world in terms of interactingobjects:wed talkabout interactions between
the steeringwheel, the pedals, the wheels, etc.OOP allows programmers to packaway details
into neat, self-contained boxes (objects) so that theycan thinkofthe objects more abstractly
andfocusontheinteractionsbetweenthem.
TherearelotsofdenitionsforOOP,but3primaryfeaturesofitare:
Encapsulation: groupingrelated data and functions together as objects and dening
aninterface tothoseobjects
Inheritance: allowingcodetobereusedbetweenrelatedtypes
Polymorphism: allowingavaluetobeoneofseveraltypes,anddeterminingat
runtimewhichfunctionstocallonitbasedonitstype
LetsseehoweachoftheseplaysoutinC++.
2 Encapsulation
Encapsulationjustreferstopackagingrelatedstutogether. Wevealreadyseenhowto
packageupdataandtheoperationsitsupportsinC++:withclasses.
Ifsomeonehandsusaclass,wedonotneedtoknowhowitactuallyworkstouseit;allwe
needtoknowaboutisitspublicmethods/dataitsinterface.Thisisoftencomparedto
operatingacar:whenyoudrive,youdontcarehowthesteeringwheelmakesthewheels
turn;youjustcarethattheinterfacethecarpresents(thesteeringwheel)allowsyouto
accomplishyourgoal. IfyouremembertheanalogyfromLecture6aboutobjectsbeing
boxeswithbuttonsyoucanpush,youcanalsothinkoftheinterfaceofaclassastheset
ofbuttonseachinstanceofthatclassmakesavailable.Interfacesabstractawaythedetails
ofhowalltheoperationsareactuallyperformed,allowingtheprogrammertofocusonhow
objectswilluseeachothersinterfaceshowtheyinteract.
ThisiswhyC++makesyouspecifypublic andprivate accessspeciers:bydefault,it
assumesthatthethingsyoudeneinaclassareinternaldetailswhichsomeoneusingyour
codeshouldnothavetoworryabout.Thepracticeofhidingawaythesedetailsfromclient
codeiscalleddatahiding,ormakingyourclassablackbox.
Onewayto thinkaboutwhat happens in anobject-oriented program is thatwe denewhat
objectsexistandwhateachoneknows,andthentheobjectssendmessagestoeachother
(by callingeachothersmethods)toexchangeinformationandtelleachotherwhattodo.
3 Inheritance
Inheritance allowsustodenehierarchiesofrelatedclasses.
Imagine were writing an inventory program for vehicles, includingcars andtrucks.We could
writeoneclassforrepresentingcarsandanunrelatedoneforrepresentingtrucks,butwed
havetoduplicatethefunctionalitythatallvehicleshaveincommon.Instead,C++allows
ustospecifythecommoncodeinaVehicleclass,andthenspecifythattheCarandTruck
classessharethiscode.
TheVehicleclasswillbemuchthesameaswhatweveseenbefore:
1
2
3
4
class Vehicle {
protected:
string license;
int year;
2
5
6 public:
7 Vehicle(const string &myLicense , const int myYear)
8 : license(myLicense), year(myYear) {}
9 const string getDesc () const
10 {return license + " from " + stringify(year);}
11 const string &getLicense () const {return license ;}
12 const int getYear () const {return year;}
13 };
Afewnotesonthiscode,byline:
2.Thestandardstringclass is described in Section 1of PS3;see there for details.Recall
thatstringscanbeappendedtoeachotherwiththe+ operator.
3.protectedislargelyequivalenttoprivate.Welldiscussthedierencesshortly.
8.Thislinedemonstratesmember initializer syntax.Whendeningaconstructor,you
sometimes want to initialize certain members, particularlyconstmembers, even before
theconstructorbody.Yousimplyputacolonbeforethefunctionbody,followedbya
comma-separatedlistofitemsoftheformdataMember(initialValue).
10.Thislineassumestheexistenceofsomefunctionstringifyfor convertingnumbers to
strings.
NowwewanttospecifythatCar willinherittheVehicle code,butwithsomeadditions.
Thisisaccomplishedinline1below:
1 class Car : public Vehicle { // Makes Car inherit from Vehicle
2 string style;
3
4 public:
5 Car(const string &myLicense , const int myYear , const string
&myStyle)
6 : Vehicle(myLicense , myYear), style(myStyle) {}
7 const string &getStyle () {return style;}
8 };
NowclassCar hasallthedatamembersandmethodsofVehicle,aswellasastyle data
memberandagetStylemethod.
ClassCar inherits from classVehicle. ThisisequivalenttosayingthatCar isaderived
class,whileVehicle is itsbase class.Youmayalsohearthetermssubclass andsuperclass
instead.
Notesonthecode:
3
1.Dontworryfornowaboutwhywestuckthepublic keyword in there.
6.Notehowweusememberinitializersyntaxtocallthebase-classconstructor.Weneed
tohaveacompleteVehicle objectconstructedbeforeweconstructthecomponents
added in theCar. If you do not explicitlycalla base-class constructor using this syntax,
thedefaultbase-classconstructorwillbecalled.
Similarly,wecouldmakeaTruckclass that inherits fromVehicleandshares its code.This
wouldgiveaclass hierarchy like the following:
Vehicle
Truck Car
Classhierarchiesaregenerallydrawnwitharrowspointingfromderivedclassestobase
classes.
3.1 Is-a vs. Has-a
TherearetwowayswecoulddescribesomeclassA asdependingonsomeotherclassB:
1.EveryAobjecthas a Bobject.For instance, everyVehiclehas a stringobject (called
license).
2.EveryinstanceofA is a B instance.Forinstance,everyCar is a Vehicle,aswell.
Inheritanceallowsustodeneis-arelationships,butitshouldnotbeusedtoimplement
has-arelationships. ItwouldbeadesignerrortomakeVehicle inheritfromstring
becauseeveryVehicle hasalicense;aVehicle isnotastring. Has-arelationships
shouldbeimplementedbydeclaringdatamembers,notbyinheritance.
3.2 Overriding Methods
We mightwant to generate the description forCars in a dierentway from genericVehicles.
Toaccomplishthis,wecansimplyredenethegetDesc method inCar,asbelow. Then,
whenwecallgetDesconaCarobject,itwillusetheredenedfunction.Redeninginthis
manneriscalledoverriding the function.
1
2
3
class Car : public
string style;
Vehicle { // Makes Car inherit from Vehicle
4
4 public:
5 Car(const string &myLicense , const int myYear , const string
&myStyle)
6 : Vehicle(myLicense , myYear), style(myStyle) {}
7 const string getDesc () // Overriding this member function
8 {return stringify(year) + + style + ": " + license
;}
9 const string &getStyle () {return style;}
10 };
3.2.1 Programming by Dierence
Indeningderivedclasses,weonlyneedtospecifywhatsdierentaboutthemfromtheir
baseclasses.Thispowerfultechniqueiscalledprogramming by dierence.
Inheritanceallowsonlyoverridingmethodsandaddingnewmembersandmethods. We
cannotremovefunctionalitythatwaspresentinthebaseclass.
3.3 Access Modiers and Inheritance
Ifweddeclaredyear andlicense asprivate inVehicle,wewouldntbeabletoaccess
themevenfromaderivedclasslikeCar.Toallowderivedclassesbutnotoutsidecodeto
accessdatamembersandmemberfunctions,wemustdeclarethemasprotected.
Thepublic keywordused inspecifyinga baseclass (e.g.,class Car : public Vehicle
{...}) gives a limit for the visibility ofthe inheritedmethods in the derivedclass.Normally
youshould justusepublic here,whichmeansthatinheritedmethodsdeclaredaspublic
arestillpublic inthederivedclass.Specifyingprotected wouldmakeinheritedmethods,
even those declaredpublic, have atmostprotectedvisibility.For a fulltable ofthe eects
ofdierentinheritanceaccessspeciers,see
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/C++Programming/Classes/Inheritance.
4 Polymorphism
Polymorphism meansmanyshapes. Itreferstotheabilityofoneobjecttohavemany
types. IfwehaveafunctionthatexpectsaVehicle object,wecansafelypassitaCar
object,becauseeveryCarisalsoaVehicle. Likewise for references and pointers:anywhere
youcanuseaVehicle *,youcanuseaCar *.
5
4.1 virtual Functions
Thereisstillaproblem.Takethefollowingexample:
1 Car c("VANITY", 2003);
2 Vehicle *vPtr = &c;
3 cout << vPtr->getDesc();
(The ->notationon line 3 just dereferencesand getsamember.ptr->memberisequivalent
to(*ptr).member.)
BecausevPtris declaredas aVehicle *, this willcalltheVehicleversion ofgetDesc, even
thoughtheobject pointedto isactuallyaCar.Usuallywedwant the program to select the
correctfunctionatruntimebasedonwhichkindofobjectispointedto.Wecangetthis
behaviorbyaddingthekeywordvirtual beforethemethoddenition:
1 class Vehicle {
2 ...
3 virtual const string getDesc () {...}
4 };
Withthisdenition,thecodeabovewouldcorrectlyselecttheCar versionofgetDesc.
Selectingthe correct function atruntime is calleddynamic dispatch. This matches the whole
OOPideaweresendingamessagetotheobjectandlettingitgureoutforitselfwhat
actionsthatmessageactuallymeansitshouldtake.
Becausereferencesareimplicitlyusingpointers,thesameissuesapplytoreferences:
1 Car c("VANITY", 2003);
2 Vehicle &v = c;
3 cout << v.getDesc();
ThiswillonlycalltheCar versionofgetDescifgetDescisdeclaredasvirtual.
OnceamethodisdeclaredvirtualinsomeclassC,itisvirtualineveryderivedclassofC,
evenifnotexplicitlydeclaredassuch.However,itisagoodideatodeclareitasvirtual
inthederivedclassesanywayforclarity.
4.2 Pure virtual Functions
Arguably, there is no reasonable wayto denegetDescfor a genericVehicle only derived
classesreallyneedadenitionofit,sincethereisnosuchthingasagenericvehiclethat
isntalso a car, truck, or the like.Still,we do want to require every derivedclass ofVehicle
to have this function.
6
WecanomitthedenitionofgetDesc fromVehicle bymakingthefunctionpure virtual
viathefollowingoddsyntax:
1 class Vehicle {
2 ...
3 virtual const string getDesc () = 0; // Pure virtual
4 };
The= 0indicates thatno denition will be given.This implies thatone can no longer create
aninstanceofVehicle;onecanonlycreateinstancesofCars,Trucks,andotherderived
classeswhichdoimplementthegetDesc method.Vehicle isthenanabstract class one
whichdenesonlyaninterface,butdoesntactuallyimplementit,andthereforecannotbe
instantiated.
5 Multiple Inheritance
Unlikemanyobject-orientedlanguages,C++allowsaclasstohavemultiplebaseclasses:
1 class Car : public Vehicle, public InsuredItem {
2 ...
3 };
This species that Carshould have all the members of both theVehicleand theInsuredItem
classes.
Multipleinheritanceistrickyandpotentiallydangerous:
If bothVehicle andInsuredItem deneamemberx,youmustremembertodisam-
biguatewhichoneyourereferringtobysayingVehicle::xorInsuredItem::x.
If bothVehicle andInsuredItem inheritedfromthesamebaseclass,youdendup
withtwoinstancesofthebaseclasswithineachCar(adreadeddiamond classhier-
archy).Therearewaystosolvethisproblem,butitcangetmessy.
Ingeneral,avoidmultipleinheritanceunlessyouknowexactlywhatyouredoing.
7
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6.096 Introduction to C++
January (IAP) 2011
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