CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++
tanuja
tanuja

Reputation: 17

when does ambiguity arise in multiple inheritance?

when does ambiguity arise in multiple inheritance?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2950

Answers (4)

Jon Hanna
Jon Hanna

Reputation: 113242

When it makes names used unclear

class baseX
{
  private:
  void* callA();//will never be ambiguous.
  protected:
  void* callB();
  public:
  void* callC();
}
class baseY
{
  private:
  void* callA();//will never be ambiguous.
  protected:
  void* callB();
  public:
  void* callC();
}
class derived: public baseX, public baseY
{
  void someMethod()
  {
    void* x = baseX::callB();//not ambiguous
    void* y = baseY::callB();//not ambiguous
    void* z = callB();//ambiguose
  }
}
void someFunction(derived& d)
{
  void* x = d.CallC();//ambiguous
}

Ambiguity can also happen when the same class is the base through more than one route:

class Base
{
  public void call();
}
class DerivedX : public Base
{
}
class DerivedY : public Base
{
}
class GrandChild : public DerivedX, public DerivedY //What does call() do?
{
}

This can be solved with virtual bases:

class Base
{
  public void call();
}
class DerivedX : public virtual Base
{
}
class DerivedY : public virtual Base
{
}
class GrandChild : public DerivedX, public DerivedY //only one "Base" class in inheritance, shared between DerivedX and DerivedY
{
}

Upvotes: 0

Alexander Poluektov
Alexander Poluektov

Reputation: 8053

When you have replicated base class in several paths of inheritance and you are trying to cast to it or call its member-function.

struct A { };
struct B : A { };
struct C : A { };
struct D : B, C { }; // has replicated A as the base class

D d;
A* a = static_cast<A*>(&d); // oops

The problem has several remedies which depend on the context heavily (using virtual base classes, just refine the aforementioned cast, etc.)

More info here, especially here.

Upvotes: 4

JackWilson
JackWilson

Reputation: 577

One famous example of ambiguity in multiple inheritance is the so-called Diamond Problem.

Summary: "In object-oriented programming languages with multiple inheritance and knowledge organization, the diamond problem is an ambiguity that arises when two classes B and C inherit from A, and class D inherits from both B and C. If a method in D calls a method defined in A (and does not override the method), and B and C have overridden that method differently, then from which class does it inherit: B, or C?"

You can find details here: Wikipedia: Diamond Problem

Upvotes: 3

Xeo
Xeo

Reputation: 131789

struct Base{
  void foo(){
  }
};

struct Derived1 : public Base{
};

struct Derived2 : public Base{
};

struct Final : public Derived1, public Derived2{
};

int main(){
  Final f;
  f.foo();
}

See on Ideone. To fix, simply use virtual inheritance:

struct Derived1 : virtual public Base{
};
struct Derived2 : virtual public Base{
};

Another possibility for ambigouty is the following:

struct Base1{
  void foo(){
  }
};

struct Base2{
  void foo(){
  }
};

struct Final : public Base1, public Base2{
};

int main(){
  Final f;
  f.foo();
}

Again, on Ideone. To fix, simple make do the following in Final:

struct Final : public Base1, public Base2{
  using Base1::foo;
  // or
  // using Base2::foo;
};

Upvotes: 1

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