I am reading Inside the C++ Object Model. In section 1.3
So, then, why is it that, given
Bear b;
ZooAnimal za = b;
// ZooAnimal::rotate() invoked
za.rotate();
the instance of rotate() invoked is the ZooAnimal instance and not that of Bear? Moreover, if memberwise initialization copies the values of one object to another, why is za's vptr not addressing Bear's virtual table?
The answer to the second question is that the compiler intercedes in the initialization and assignment of one class object with another. The compiler must ensure that if an object contains one or more vptrs, those vptr values are not initialized or changed by the source object .
So I wrote the test code below:
#include <stdio.h>
class Base{
public:
virtual void vfunc() { puts("Base::vfunc()"); }
};
class Derived: public Base
{
public:
virtual void vfunc() { puts("Derived::vfunc()"); }
};
#include <string.h>
int main()
{
Derived d;
Base b_assign = d;
Base b_memcpy;
memcpy(&b_memcpy, &d, sizeof(Base));
b_assign.vfunc();
b_memcpy.vfunc();
printf("sizeof Base : %d\n", sizeof(Base));
Base &b_ref = d;
b_ref.vfunc();
printf("b_assign: %x; b_memcpy: %x; b_ref: %x\n",
*(int *)&b_assign,
*(int *)&b_memcpy,
*(int *)&b_ref);
return 0;
}
The result
Base::vfunc()
Base::vfunc()
sizeof Base : 4
Derived::vfunc()
b_assign: 80487b4; b_memcpy: 8048780; b_ref: 8048780
My question is why b_memcpy still called Base::vfunc()