C++ Polymorphism

The definition of polymorphism is "many forms", and it occurs when we have superclass and multiple childs class related to each other by inheritance.

Polymorphism is nothing but overriding a function or method from superclass in child classes. you can look at picture below to understand it:

C++ Polymorphism

To learn more about Polymorphism, jump to C++ Function Overriding

In this section you will learn about overriding function, example getColorAsMessage()

Example in C++ Overriding

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

class Vehicle {
 public:              
    string color;        
    string make;         
    string model;
 public:             
    string getColorAsMessage() { 
      return "My color is: " + color;
    }
};

class Car : public Vehicle {     

 public:             
    string getColorAsMessage() {  // Method Overriding
      return "The Car color is: " + color; // Original Method in Vehicle class print My color is:...
  }
};

class Truck : public Vehicle {    

 public:             
    string getColorAsMessage() { // Method Overriding
      return "The Truck color is: " + color;  // Original Method in Vehicle class print My color is:...
  }
};


int main() {

  // Car section
  Car newCar;  
  newCar.color = "Red";
  newCar.make = "BMW";
  newCar.model = "X5";
  cout << newCar.getColorAsMessage() << "\n"; 
  cout << newCar.make << "\n"; 
  
  // Truck section
  Truck newTruck;  
  newTruck.color = "White";
  newTruck.make = "Chevy";
  newTruck.model = "Silverado";
  cout << newTruck.getColorAsMessage() << "\n"; 
  cout << newTruck.make << "\n"; 

  return 0;
}

Output

The Car color is: Red
BMW
The Truck color is: White
Chevy

Conclusion

In this page (written and validated by A. Gawali) you learned about C++ Polymorphism . What's Next? If you are interested in completing Cpp tutorial, your next topic will be learning about: Cpp Class Constructor.

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