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When an object is created, a pointer to this table, called the virtual table pointer, vpointer or VPTR, is added as a hidden member of this object. As such, the compiler must also generate "hidden" code in the constructors of each class to initialize a new object's virtual table pointer to the address of its class's virtual method table.
To elaborate on the above example, consider a base class with no virtual functions. Whenever the base class calls another member function, it will always call its own base class functions. When we derive a class from this base class, we inherit all the member variables and member functions that were not overridden (no constructors or destructors).
Languages differ in their behavior while the constructor or destructor of an object is running. For this reason, calling virtual functions in constructors is generally discouraged. In C++, the "base" function is called. Specifically, the most derived function that is not more derived than the current constructor or destructor's class is called.
In inheritance hierarchies, the declaration of a virtual destructor in the base class ensures that the destructors of derived classes are invoked properly when an object is deleted through a pointer-to-base-class. Objects that may be deleted in this way need to inherit a virtual destructor. A destructor should never throw an exception. [8]
Aspects of object lifetime vary between programming languages and within implementations of a language. The core concepts are relatively common, but terminology varies. For example, the concepts of create and destroy are sometimes termed construct and destruct and the language elements are termed constructor (ctor) and destructor (dtor).
The terminology of finalizer and finalization versus destructor and destruction varies between authors and is sometimes unclear.. In common use, a destructor is a method called deterministically on object destruction, and the archetype is C++ destructors; while a finalizer is called non-deterministically by the garbage collector, and the archetype is Java finalize methods.
Constructors cannot be directly invoked (the keyword “new” invokes them). Constructors should not have non-access modifiers. Java constructors perform the following tasks in the following order: Call the default constructor of the superclass if no constructor is defined. Initialize member variables to the specified values.
Default constructor if no other constructor is explicitly declared. Copy constructor if no move constructor and move assignment operator are explicitly declared. If a destructor is declared generation of a copy constructor is deprecated (C++11, proposal N3242 [2]).