How to use base class’s constructors and assignment operator in C++?

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You can explicitly call constructors and assignment operators:

class Base {
//...
public:
    Base(const Base&) { /*...*/ }
    Base& operator=(const Base&) { /*...*/ }
};

class Derived : public Base
{
    int additional_;
public:
    Derived(const Derived& d)
        : Base(d) // dispatch to base copy constructor
        , additional_(d.additional_)
    {
    }

    Derived& operator=(const Derived& d)
    {
        Base::operator=(d);
        additional_ = d.additional_;
        return *this;
    }
};

The interesting thing is that this works even if you didn’t explicitly define these functions (it then uses the compiler generated functions).

class ImplicitBase { 
    int value_; 
    // No operator=() defined
};

class Derived : public ImplicitBase {
    const char* name_;
public:
    Derived& operator=(const Derived& d)
    {
         ImplicitBase::operator=(d); // Call compiler generated operator=
         name_ = strdup(d.name_);
         return *this;
    }
};

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  16. templates: parent class member variables not visible in inherited class
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  27. Has the new C++11 member initialization feature at declaration made initialization lists obsolete?
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  30. The assignment operator and initialization

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