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Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour.

From "MikeWhy" <boat042-nospam@yahoo.com>
Newsgroups comp.lang.c++
Subject Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour.
Date 2012-01-15 02:25 -0600
Organization A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID <jeu2ij$ea3$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References <c72dnSYot-_4l4_SnZ2dnUVZ8o-dnZ2d@giganews.com>

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"Leigh Johnston" <leigh@i42.co.uk> wrote in message 
news:c72dnSYot-_4l4_SnZ2dnUVZ8o-dnZ2d@giganews.com...
> From n3242, 10.4./6:
> "Member functions can be called from a constructor (or destructor) of an 
> abstract class; the effect of making a
> virtual call (10.3) to a pure virtual function directly or indirectly for 
> the object being created (or destroyed)
> from such a constructor (or destructor) is undefined."
>
> Does anyone know the rationale for why the above is UB?
>
> For the newbies reading this: it *is* possible in C++ for a pure virtual 
> function to have a definition.
>
> I think it might be an omission from the standard: whilst calling a pure 
> virtual function *without a* definition is UB I can see no reason why 
> calling a pure virtual function *with a* definition from a ctor/dtor 
> should be UB.
>
> I do not believe this is an ease-of-implementation issue as VC++ and g++ 
> allow it no problem (yes I know UB can "silently work"); clang seemingly 
> follows the standard to the letter and doesn't.
>
> All pure means is that a virtual function should be overridden in a 
> derived class; there should be no difference in dynamic dispatch for pure 
> virtual functions and ordinary virtual functions.
>
> Thoughts?

The more-derived type has not yet been constructed. It therefore does not 
exist yet. Similarly during destruction, the more-derived types have already 
been destroyed. They no longer exist. It is unsafe be invoke a method in an 
object that does not exist.

This is not an ease of implementation issue. Virtual calls during 
construction/destruction are dispatched as though the vptr references the 
vtable for the current class, not that of the most derived type.

If it were possible to call an override defined in a more-derived type 
during construction, what assumptions can *any* virtual method make about 
data members, its own or in any of its bases?

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Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-14 23:06 +0000
  Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Goran <goran.pusic@gmail.com> - 2012-01-14 22:21 -0800
  Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "MikeWhy" <boat042-nospam@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-15 02:25 -0600
    Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-15 14:07 +0000
      Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "MikeWhy" <boat042-nospam@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-15 13:13 -0600
  Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Alf P. Steinbach" <alf.p.steinbach+usenet@gmail.com> - 2012-01-15 09:29 +0100
    Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-15 14:16 +0000
      Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Alf P. Steinbach" <alf.p.steinbach+usenet@gmail.com> - 2012-01-15 15:25 +0100
        Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-15 14:30 +0000
  Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. gwowen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-01-16 01:57 -0800
    Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Alf P. Steinbach" <alf.p.steinbach+usenet@gmail.com> - 2012-01-16 11:28 +0100
      Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 11:29 +0000
      Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. gwowen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-01-16 03:21 -0800
  Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 12:04 +0000
    Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 12:52 +0000
      Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 14:14 +0000
        Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 14:26 +0000
          Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 16:14 +0000
            Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 16:37 +0000
              Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 18:02 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 18:22 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 19:15 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 20:34 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 20:41 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 20:49 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 21:08 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 21:11 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 23:18 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 23:39 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 23:48 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-16 23:57 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-17 12:24 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-17 14:11 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. gwowen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-01-17 06:43 -0800
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-17 14:52 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. gwowen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-01-17 07:22 -0800
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-17 16:35 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-17 16:40 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-17 17:30 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-18 10:38 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-18 11:57 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-18 12:49 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. gwowen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-01-17 08:59 -0800
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-17 17:03 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "MikeWhy" <boat042-nospam@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-17 11:34 -0600
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "MikeWhy" <boat042-nospam@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-17 12:14 -0600
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Gareth Owen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-01-18 06:37 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "MikeWhy" <boat042-nospam@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-18 13:08 -0600
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "MikeWhy" <boat042-nospam@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-18 13:14 -0600
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-17 15:50 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-17 15:59 +0000
                Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-17 16:09 +0000
          Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. jgk@panix.com (Joe keane) - 2012-01-17 16:13 +0000
            Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2012-01-18 18:11 +0000
        Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. gwowen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-01-16 06:34 -0800
  Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Gil <vnicula@gmail.com> - 2012-01-16 20:55 -0800
  Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-17 17:58 +0000
    Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2012-01-18 18:12 +0000
      Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-18 19:00 +0000
        Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-18 22:00 +0000
      Re: Rationale for base class pure virtual function call from ctor/dtor being undefined behaviour. Gareth Owen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-01-19 06:22 +0000

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