C++ -- dynamic_cast

class  Widget { };
class  SpecialWidget:  public  Widget { };
void  update(SpecialWidget  * psw);

int  main()
{
    Widget  * pw  =   new  SpecialWidget;
    update(dynamic_cast < SpecialWidget *> (pw));
                          //   It seems to work.
}

 

When compiling,  error message shows up as follows:

cannot dynamic_cast `pw' (of type `class Widget*') to type `class SpecialWidget*' (source type is not polymorphic)

why does it say  source type is not polymorphic? Dose' t  class SpecialWidget extends class Widget?

That's no doubt about that. So why?

Let us add some code to see:

class  Widget
{
public :
     virtual   void  polymorphic( ) { }   //  add virtual method
};

class  SpecialWidget
{
public :
     virtual   void  polymorphic( ) { }   //  add virtual method
};

void  update(SpecialWidget *  psw);

int  main( ) 
{
    Widget *  pw  =   new  SpecialWidget;
    update( dynamic_cast < SpecialWidget *>  (pw) );  //  Now it does work.
     
}

Now, just adding  some virtual funciton, no error message shows up. So in C++ it seems polymorphic is not  inheritance , but virtual function.