Enhanced reusability via polymorphic additive virtual methods in C++

The virtual method is a useful concept in polymorphic behavior of object-oriented programs. By making a method virtual in a class, all classes derived from that class are allowed to modify or enhance the definition of the method (while retaining its original signature) providing one kind of polymorphism. In this article, we explore the virtues of virtual methods and introduce different ways of implementing additive virtual methods in C++. The concepts presented can find applications in shared software libraries, integrating software applications, and distributed computing.