SE450: Types: Late Binding [34/47]

The actual type of an object -- along with the object state -- determines message response.

Actual type of receiver cannot be determined statically!

Colored p3, r3;
p3.getColor(); // prints "Cartesian"
r3.getColor(); // prints "Polar"

The actual method is bound late (ie, determined at run-time).

• Late Binding
• Dynamic Binding
• Dynamic Dispatch

This is implemented using virtual function tables (aka, vtables).