See the code below.
a) Does, in this case (simple inheritance, no virtual members), the static cast in B::df() have any overhead (whatsoever)? I found some conflicting answers to similar questions, that's why I am asking...
b) I was thinking about making const M1 * func
private in A and introducing a new private field const M2 * func
into B to avoid the cast, but it kind of complicates things up and makes use of smart pointers more difficult. Do you see a better way to avoid the cast?
class M1 {
public:
double f() const;
};
class M2 : public M1 {
public:
double df() const;
};
class A {
protected:
const M1 * func;
public:
A(const M1 * p);
~A();
double f() const;
};
class B : public A {
public:
B(const M2 * p);
double df() const;
};
double M1::f() const { return 1973.0; }
double M2::df() const { return 0.0; }
A::~A() { delete func; }
A::A(const M1 * p) : func(p) {}
double A::f() const { return func->f(); }
B::B(const M2 * p) : A(p) {}
double B::df() const { return static_cast<const M2*>(func)->df(); }