Rob Stewart <stewart@sig.com> wrote:
From: "Reece Dunn" <msclrhd@hotmail.com>
Rob Stewart wrote:
class char_string { virtual iterator begin() = 0; virtual const_iterator begin() const = 0; };
That is what I was referring to. You need to change the name of the const version if you are to allow virtual functions.
Why?
I'm not sure if this is what Reece is alluding to, but the problem is if you want to subclass and only overload some of the begin() versions. class concrete_char_string : public char_string { virtual iterator begin(); virtual const_iterator begin() const; }; class my_char_string : public concrete_char_string { virtual iterator begin() const; }; my_char_string mcs = foo(); mcs.begin(); // calls const version We may have expected to call concrete_char_string's non-const begin(), but since it has the same name as my_char_string's begin(), it is hidden, and we call my_char_string's const version. This is a general problem problem with having multiple virtual functions with the same name. It's why people will have set_foo() and get_foo() rather than two versions of foo(). -- Colin Rafferty