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Late binding, or dynamic binding, occurs at runtime. Early binding, or static binding, occurs at compile time. The difference between the two is that, with early binding, the compiler knows exactly which function will be called in advance and can statically bind to that function during compilation. With late binding, the compiler does not know which function will be called in advance, it only knows the function signature. Thus the binding has to be done at runtime.
For example, if you call a virtual function of a base class, the compiler cannot determine in advance the exact type of the derivative (in some cases it may not be derived at all). All it knows is that you've called the base class method and that an override may or may not exist at runtime. Thus the exact method to be called will ultimately be determined at runtime, via the derived class' virtual table. Note that although the derived class is itself late bound (because the compiler cannot know the exact type of a derivative that may be made available in the future), only the virtual methods of the base class need to be late bound. Non-virtual methods can be statically bound, since they are never expected to be overridden.
Calling virtual methods is actually no different to using function pointers within your code (a virtual table is simply an array of function pointers, with one table per base class, and another for each of its derivatives). Again, the compiler cannot know in advance where a function pointer will actually be pointing at compile time, thus the call must be dynamically bound at runtime.
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A c plus plus statement that invokes a function is known as?
...a function call.
Is a function call a form of branching in C plus plus?
No. A branch is akin to a goto statement in procedural programming. The code branches off to a new code segment, never to return. A function call is akin to a subroutine in structured programming. When the subroutine is finished, control is returned to the instruction immediately following the function call, just as if the function's code were inline expanded at the call site.
How do you use call by reference in c plus plus?
Call by reference means calling a function using a reference to a variable or a pointer. You call a function by passing refrences to a variable. For eg: void x(int &a) { a=2; } void main() { int s=3; x(s); } OR void a(int &c) { c=5;}void main(){ int *p; *p=2a(*p);}
What are caller and callee in c plus plus?
Caller and callee relate to function calls. The caller is the code point that made the call to a function while the function is the callee. The callee returns control to the caller via the return address that was pushed onto the stack by the caller. void foo() {} int main() { foo(); } In the minimal example above, the main function is the caller while the foo function is the callee.
What is a primary function in C plus plus?
There is no such thing. You probably meant the main function. The main function is the only function that is required as it serves as the entry point of the program.
