Im not a C++ pro, i've done mostly Java and C#. A teacher said something that confused me today. I've tried to validate the info by doing some research, but i ended up even more confused.
Lets say i have class A and class B. Class A is the base class and B is derived from A.
Now i already know that when an object of class B is made, the constructor from class A is called, and then the constructor from classe B is called. Similarly, when and object of class B is destroyed, the class B destructor is called, and then the ones from class A.
So far, my understanding was that Class B contains everything from class A except it's constructors and destructors. I thought that when an object from class B was built, only one object (of both types A and B) was created in memory.
Now my teacher is saying that when B is built, 2 separate objets are created and somehow "linked" together: one of class A and then one of class B. Both objects would exist in memory until the destruction of the class B object is called. Then the class B objet would be destroyed before the class A object is destroyed.
Which one is correct?
ps sorry if my english is so-so, it's not my native language...
Edit: ill try to rephrase:
I think: Class B contains all attributes and methods of class A. When i create an object from class B, only 1 object exists in memory. The constructor of class A is called just to initialize the part of my object that was originally from class A.
The teacher said: When i create an object from class B, 2 objects are created in memory. When i command the destruction of my object, the class B object that is in memory is destroyed first, and then the class A object that is also remaining in memory is destroyed. The teacher was never able to clarify how the class B object is able to use the methods and attributes of the class A object.
For me, this also seems to imply that there is a "ghost object" somewhere in memory that i am unaware of and of which i have almost no control.
According to http://www.vishalchovatiya.com/memory-layout-of-cpp-object/#Layout_of_C_Object_With_Inheritance
These two classes:
class X { int x; string str; public: X() {} virtual ~X() {} virtual void printAll() {} }; class Y : public X { int y; public: Y() {} ~Y() {} void printAll() {} };
Would be represented in memory so that the memory layout of Y contains the data members of the base class followed by the data members of the derived class:
| | |------------------------------| <------ Y class object memory layout | int X::x | stack |------------------------------| | | int string::len | | |string X::str ----------------| | | char* string::str | \|/ |------------------------------| |-------|--------------------------| | X::_vptr |------| | type_info Y | |------------------------------| |--------------------------| | int Y::y | | address of Y::~Y() | |------------------------------| |--------------------------| | o | | address of Y::printAll() | | o | |--------------------------| | o | ------|------------------------------|-------- | X::X() | |------------------------------| | | X::~X() | | |------------------------------| | | X::printAll() | \|/ |------------------------------| text segment | Y::Y() | |------------------------------| | Y::~Y() | |------------------------------| | Y::printAll() | |------------------------------| | string::string() | |------------------------------| | string::~string() | |------------------------------| | string::length() | |------------------------------| | o | | o | | o | | |
That same page also has memory layouts of other scenarios, including multiple inheritance and virtual inheritance.