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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.
In object-oriented programming, a destructor (sometimes abbreviated dtor [1]) is a method which is invoked mechanically just before the memory of the object is released. [2] It can happen when its lifetime is bound to scope and the execution leaves the scope, when it is embedded in another object whose lifetime ends, or when it was allocated dynamically and is released explicitly.
x.constructor (If not rewritten.) x instanceof class — [76] Visual Basic .NET x.GetType() TypeOf x Is type — [74] CType(x, type) or TryCast(x, type) Xojo Introspection.GetType(x) x IsA type — CType(x, type) — Eiffel x.generating_type: attached {TYPE} x: attached {TYPE} x as down_x: Python type(x) isinstance(x, type) — [76] PHP get ...
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.
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).
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).
In Python, constructors are defined by one or both of __new__ and __init__ methods. A new instance is created by calling the class as if it were a function, which calls the __new__ and __init__ methods. If a constructor method is not defined in the class, the next one found in the class's Method Resolution Order will be called. [14]
Resource allocation (or acquisition) is done during object creation (specifically initialization), by the constructor, while resource deallocation (release) is done during object destruction (specifically finalization), by the destructor. In other words, resource acquisition must succeed for initialization to succeed.