Covariant result version of the base example static type checking.

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// 2. Covariant result version of the base example, static type checking.

class Top
{
public:
    virtual Top* clone() const = 0;
    virtual ~Top() = default;       // Necessary for `delete` via Top*.
};

class D : public Top
{
public:
    D* /* ← Covariant return */ clone() const override
    { return new D( *this ); }
};

class DD : public D
{
private:
    int answer_ = 42;

public:
    int answer() const
    { return answer_;}

    DD* /* ← Covariant return */ clone() const override
    { return new DD( *this ); }
};

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    DD* p1 = new DD();
    DD* p2 = p1->clone();
    // Correct dynamic type DD for *p2 is guaranteed by the static type checking.

    cout << p2->answer() << endl;          // "42"
    delete p2;
    delete p1;
}

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Return type covariance:
* Covariant result version of the base example static type checking.

Table Of Contents
8 Arrays
11 Loops
39 Streams
51 Unions
56 Lambdas
60 SFINAE
62 RAII
67 Sorting
84 RTTI
87 Scopes
104 Profiling
105 Return type covariance
107 Recursion
117 Iteration
125 Alignment
134 Semaphore
136 Debugging
139 Mutexes
142 decltype