static function

Hi,

In the below example, inside the implementation of the static function f1 is there a way to determine whether A::f1() or B::f1() invoked f1 ?

Code:

---

class A
{
    public:
        static A* f1();
};

A* A :: f1()
{
    // Is there a way to identify if A :: f1() or B :: f1() has invoked me ?
    return(new A); //just a dummy return statement for the sake of the example

}

class B : public A
{};


int main()
{
    A* p1 = A :: f1();
    A* p2 = B :: f1();

    delete p1;
    delete p2;

    return(0);
}

---

The reason I ask is because I was wondering if f1 function could create an instance of A or B depending on weather A::f1() or B::f1() is called

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Muthuveerappan

In the below example, inside the implementation of the static function f1 is there a way to determine whether A::f1() or B::f1() invoked f1 ?

---

Bad question: neither A::f1() or B::f1() invoked f1, because f1 is A::f1, and there is no recursion involved.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Muthuveerappan

The reason I ask is because I was wondering if f1 function could create an instance of A or B depending on weather A::f1() or B::f1() is called

---

Overload f1 by defining B::f1 to return a B*.

Thanks Laserlight, you are rite

I was just going through Cocoa (Objective C's framework) and saw the method alloc which was inherited from the base class (NSObject) and seemed it was something equivalent to static function.

alloc was creating a new instance for which ever class invoked it.

I was just wondering if I could draw something parallel in C++.

I suppose Objective C is a completely different programming language and they have their own semantics and structure and wouldn't be fair to compare with C++.

Thanks again,
muthu