What is polymorphism in the context of C/C++ programming languages?

Polymorphism is the property of objects to have many forms or represent multiple types in an inheritance hierarchy. It allows working with objects of different classes through a common interface of the base class.

In C++, polymorphism is implemented in two main ways:

1. Compile-time polymorphism (static, ad-hoc polymorphism):

   • Implemented using function overloading and operator overloading.
   • The specific function or operator implementation is chosen at compile time.

   // Example of function overloading
   void print(int a) { /* ... */ }
   void print(double b) { /* ... */ }
   

2. Runtime polymorphism (dynamic, subtype polymorphism):

   • Implemented using virtual functions and pointers/references to the base class.
   • The specific function implementation is chosen at runtime.
   • Requires at least one virtual function in the base class.
   • Uses a virtual table (vtable).

   // Example of dynamic polymorphism
   class Base {
   public:
       virtual void show() { /* Base class implementation */ }
   };
   
   class Derived : public Base {
   public:
       void show() override { /* Overridden implementation */ }
   };
   
   // Usage
   Base* ptr = new Derived();
   ptr->show(); // Calls Derived::show()
   

Polymorphism allows writing more flexible and extensible code, as new classes can be added without modifying existing code that works with the base class.