Dynamic Cast - 1

• Derived class may acquire method not defined in the base class
1. Multiple inheritance gives the derived class a method from another base class
2. New class method to handle added variables in derived class
• Base class pointer cannot "know" about new derived class methods
• dynamic_cast<T>(p)
  returns a pointer of type T with the same address value as p
• dynamic_cast<T>(p) may be applied only in up- and down-cast situations in a given class hierarchy

Derivation Table for the B,B2 Hierarchy     Base: B  D1  D2  D3  B2 Derived D1 x     D2 x     D3   x   D4     x D5       x x

This table shows the class parent/child relationships. From the table, we see the following is_a relationships, denoted by ":" D1:B D2:B D3:D1:B D4:D2:B D5:D3:D1:B D5:B2