Derived Classes in C++

CS-2303
System Programming Concepts
(Slides include materials from The C Programming Language, 2nd edition, by Kernighan and Ritchie, from
C: How to Program, 5th and 6th editions, by Deitel and Deitel, and from
The C++ Programming Language, 3rd edition, by Bjarne Stroustrup)

CS-2303, C-Term 2010 Derived Classes in C++ 1

 Outline

• Introduction
• Base Classes and Derived Classes
• Some Examples of Base Class and Derived
Class Relationships
• Constructors and Destructors in Derived
Classes
• Accessing Members of Base and Derived
Classes
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 Reading Assignment

• Deitel & Deitel, Chapter 23

• Note:– Like most of the rest of the book,

this chapter is written mostly for someone
who has never heard of classes, subclasses,
and object-oriented programming
• Especially someone who has never seen Java

CS-2303, C-Term 2010 Derived Classes in C++ 3

 History

• The whole notion of classes, subclasses,

and inheritance came from Simula 67
• A generalization of notion of records (now known
as structs) from Algol- and Pascal-like languages
in 1960s and early 70s

– A (very nice) programming language developed

in Norway for implementing large simulation
applications

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 Terminology

• Inheritance is a form of software reuse

where a new class is created to
– absorb an existing class’s data and behaviors,
and
– enhance them with new capabilities

• The new class, the derived class, inherits

the members of the existing class, known as
the base class
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 Terminology (continued)

• C++ • Java
– Derived Class – Subclass

– Base Class – Superclass

CS-2303, C-Term 2010 Derived Classes in C++ 6

 Introduction (continued)
• A direct base class is the base class from which a
derived class explicitly inherits.

• An indirect base class is inherited from two or

more levels up in the class hierarchy.

• In single inheritance, a class is derived from one

base class.

• With multiple inheritance, a derived class inherits

from multiple base classes.
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Deitel & Deitel, Fig. 23.2
er sity
univ
of a
Class Hierarchy em
r s
be ty
M muni
com

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 Three Types of Inheritance in C++

• public:: every object of a derived class is

also an object of its base class
• Note, base-class objects are NOT objects of their
derived classes.
• private:: is essentially an alternative to
composition
• I.e., derived class members not accessible from
outside
• protected:: is rarely used
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 Example — public class
class Employee { es
e
string givenName, familyName; ploy e
Em ar
date hiringDate; re yee s
a
rs plo
short department; ag e m
an ll E
... l M t a
Al t no rs
}; bu nage
Ma
class Manager: public Employee {
set <Employee *> group;
short level;
...
}
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 Example — public class
class Employee {
string givenName, familyName;
date hiringDate;
short department;
...
};

class Manager: public EmployeeNote:

{ this is an example of
set <Employee *> group; the use of a container
short level; class

...
}
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 Important Note

• Member functions of derived class cannot

directly access private members of base
class

• Example:–
– Manager member functions in previous
example cannot read manager’s own name!
– Because data members of a class are by default
private
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 protected – New Access Specifier

class Employee {
protected:
string givenName, familyName;
date hiringDate;
short department;
...
};

class Manager: public Employee {

set <Employee *> group;
short level;
...
}
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 protected (continued)

• A base class’s protected members can be

accessed by
– members and friends of the base class, and
– members and friends of any class derived from
the base class.
• Derived-class member functions can refer
to public and protected members of the
base class.
– By simply using their names
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 Difference between
Inheritance and Composition
• is-a relationship:: inheritance
– e.g., derived class object, car, is an object of
the base class vehicle
– e.g., derived class object, Manager, is an object
of the base class Employee

• has-a relationship:: composition

– e.g., a TreeNode object has (i.e., contains) a
member object of type string
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 Base Classes and Derived Classes

• Base classes typically represent larger sets

of objects than derived classes
• Example
– Base class: vehicle
• Includes cars, trucks, boats, bicycles, etc.
– Derived class: car
• a smaller, more-specific subset of vehicles

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 Base Classes and Derived Classes (continued)

• I.e., base classes have more objects

• But fewer data and function members

• Derived classes have only subsets of the

objects
• Hence the term subclass
• But a derived class has more data and function
members

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 Questions?

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Deitel & Deitel §23.4 — Five Examples

1. Create a CommissionEmployee class with

private data members:–
•
First name, last name, SSN, commission rate,
gross sale amount.
2. Create a BasePlusCommissionEmployee
class without inheritance but with private
data members:–
• First name, last name, SSN, commission rate,
gross sale amount, and base salary.
• Copying code is not code re-use!
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 Digression – Code Re-use
• Fundamental principle of software engineering
• A body of code is a living, evolving thing
– In response to bug fixes, changes in requirements, additional
features, new environments, etc.
• As a practical matter, copies of bodies of code cannot keep
up with each other
– Divergent bug fixes, different evolving requirements, different
development teams, etc.
• If you really want your hard work to support multiple
purposes, applications, requirements, etc.
– You really need a way for those purposes to inherit your code
rather than copy it.
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 Deitel & Deitel §23.4 — Five Examples

1. Create a CommissionEmployee class with

private data members:–
•
First name, last name, SSN, commission rate,
gross sale amount.
2. Create a BasePlusCommissionEmployee
Likewise, it is easier to copy and modify
class without the
inheritance
HashTablebut with
class private
of PA5 than it is to
data members:–build a derived class!
• First name,However,
last name,PA5 requires
SSN, a derivedrate,
commission class!
As a one-off project, it is easier to copy
gross sale amount, and base salary.
and modify CommissionEmployee than to
build a•derived
Copying
class!code is not code re-use!
CS-2303, C-Term 2010 Derived Classes in C++ 21
 Deitel & Deitel §23.4 — Five Examples (cont.)

3. Create a CommissionEmployee base class

and BasePlusCommissionEmployee
inheritance hierarchy with private members.
4. Create a CommissionEmployee base class
and BasePlusCommissionEmployee
inheritance hierarchy with protected
members.
5. Create a CommissionEmployee base class
and BasePlusCommissionEmployee
inheritance hierarchy with private members
but access through public member functions.
If youCS-2303,
need to2010
C-Term see a detailed
Derived Classes in C++ 22

example, refer to one of these.

 Constructors and Destructors
• Constructor:–
– Derived class constructor is called to create derived
class object
– Invokes base class constructor before derived class
initializer list & constructor body
– … and so on up class hierarchy
• Destructor:–
– Derived class destructor body is executed first
– Then destructors of derived class members
– And then destructor of base class
– … and so on up class hierarchy
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 Instantiating Derived-class Object

• Derived-class constructor invokes base class

constructor either
– implicitly (via a base-class member initializer) or
– explicitly (by calling the base classes default
constructor).
• Base of inheritance hierarchy
– The last constructor called in an inheritance chain is at
the base of the hierarchy
– This constructor is the first constructor body to finish
executing

CS-2303, C-Term 2010 Derived Classes in C++ 24

 Software Engineering Observation 23.7

• When a program creates a derived-class object,

– the derived-class constructor immediately calls the
base-class constructor,
– the base-class constructor’s body executes,
– then the derived class’s member initializers execute,
and
– finally the derived-class constructor’s body executes
• This process cascades up the hierarchy if the
hierarchy contains more than two levels.

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 Constructors and Destructors
in Derived Classes
• Destroying derived-class objects
– Chain of destructor calls
• Reverse order of constructor chain
• Destructor of derived-class called first.
• Destructor of next base class up hierarchy is called next.
• This continues up hierarchy until the final base class is
reached.
– After final base-class destructor, the object is removed from
memory.
• Base-class constructors, destructors, and
overloaded assignment operators are not inherited
by derived classes.
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 Software Engineering Observation 23.8

• Suppose that we create an object of a derived class

where both the base class and the derived class
contain objects of other classes.
• When an object of that derived class is created,
first the constructors for the base class’s member
objects execute, then the base-class constructor
executes, then the constructors for the derived
class’s member objects execute, then the derived
class’s constructor executes.

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 Software Engineering Observation 23.8

• Destructors for derived-class objects are

called in the reverse of the order in which
their corresponding constructors are called.

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 Questions?

CS-2303, C-Term 2010 Derived Classes in C++ 29

 Redefinition of Base Class Members

• Suppose that base class has a member

• E.g. void print()
• Knows only how to print information from base
class

• Define same member in derived class

• E.g. void print()
• Knows how to print info for derived class
• Needs to call base class print() function to print
base class info
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Redefinition of Base Class Members (continued)

• Derived class
void print() {
// print derived class info

BaseClass::print(); //prints base info

// more derived class stuff

}
General principle: when in derived class
• See Deitel &scope,
Deitel, Figneed
if you 23.25
to access anything
• Lines 50-59
in base class and there is a naming
conflict, use '::' scope resolution operator
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 Accessing Members of
Base and Derived Classes
• Let B be a base class with public members m and n
• Let D be a derived class with public members m
and p
• I.e., D redefines member m
• E.g., print() function of previous example
• Consider the following:–
B objB;
D objD;
B *ptrB;
D *ptrD;

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 Accessing Members (continued)

objB.m and objB.n are both legal

– access members of base class
objD.m and objD.p are both legal
– access members of derived class
objD.n is also legal
– accesses member of base class!
objB.p is not legal
– Class B has no member named p!
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 Accessing Members (continued)

ptrB = new B();

ptrB -> m and ptrB -> n are both legal
– access members of base class

ptrD = new D();

ptrD -> m and ptrD -> p are both legal
– access members of derived class

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 Accessing Members (continued)

ptrB = ptrD;
– ptrB now points to a member of the derived
class
– which by definition is a member of the base
class!
ptrB -> m and ptrB -> n are both legal
– access members of base class object
– Even though object is a member of derived
class, with its own redefined member m!
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 Accessing Members (continued)

ptrB = ptrD;
ptrB -> p is not legal
– Because ptrB only knows about B’s members!

• Rule:–
– So far, which member to access depends
entirely on the type of the accessing pointer (or
accessing object)
– To bend that rule, need polymorphism and
virtual members.
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 Questions?

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 Loose End:–
Three Types of Inheritance in C++
• public:: every object of a derived class is
also an object of its base class
• Note, base-class objects are NOT objects of their
derived classes.
• private:: is essentially an alternative to
composition
• I.e., derived class members not accessible from
outside
• protected:: is rarely used
CS-2303, C-Term 2010 Derived Classes in C++ 38
 Let D be derived from B

• If B is a private base class:–

• I.e., class D: private B {}
• Public and protected members of B can only be used
by member and friend functions of D.
• Only members and friends of D can convert D* into B*

• I.e., outside of member and friend functions of D

• Dptr -> p is not allowed (where p is a member of B)
• Bptr = Dptr is not allowed

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 Let D be derived from B (continued)

• If B is a protected base:–
• I.e., class D: protected B {}
• Public and protected members of B can only be used by member
and friend functions of D and also by member and friend
functions of classes derived from D
• Only members and friends of D and its derived classes can
convert D* into B*

• I.e., outside of member and friend functions of D or its

derived classes
• Dptr -> p is not allowed (where p is a member of B)
• Bptr = Dptr is not allowed
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 Let D be derived from B (continued)

• If B is a public base:–
• I.e., class D: public B {}
• Public members of B can be used by any function
• Protected members of B can be used by member and
friend functions of D and also by member and friend
functions of classes derived from D
• Any function can convert D* into B*

• I.e.,
• Dptr -> p is allowed (where p is a member of B)
• Bptr = Dptr is allowed
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 Summary – Inheritance

• This topic covered the basics of inheritance

in C++

• There is much, much more to say about

inheritance after we cover polymorphism

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 Questions?

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