What is polymorphism?

Question

In simple words

Answer 1

polymorphism: in general it means more than one form. C++ provides polymorphism, a function having same can perform diffrent operations depending on parameters passed to it. this is called function overloading.

eg. consider a function area. it can be used as:
int area(int l, int b) //area of rectangle
{
return l*b;
}

int area(int side) //area of square
{
return side*side;
}

now compiler will decide which function to call according to parameters.
area(2,4)
area(6)

Answer 2

great answer Mr.Kumar

Answer 3

Usually, when we speak about polymorphism in c++, we don't mean function overloading or generic programming, we mean polymorphism via subtyping.

Therefore it is the possibility of a method of an object to have different behaviour depending on the "real" type of the object.

For example:
class Animal {
public:
virtual void speak() {
cout << "hello";
}
};

class Cat : public Animal {
public:
void speak() {
cout << "meow";
}
};

int main() {
Cat cat;
Animal* a = &cat;
a->speak();
}

output:
meow

Answer 4

polymorphism occurs when there is a hierarchy of classes and they are related by inheritance.
C++ polymorphism means that a call to a member function will cause a different function to be executed depending on the type of object that invokes the function.