Is the following C++ casting correct?

Question

I read a few posts on the usage of static and dynamic casts specifically from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/332030/when-should-staticcast-dynamiccast-and-reinterpretcast-be-used

I have a doubt regarding the usage of cast in the following manner. Can someone verify the below mentioned code:-

This is upward casting in inheritance hierarchy

template<class Base, class Derived>

inline Handle<Base> STATIC_CAST(Handle<Derived> hd) {

  Handle<Base> hb;

  Derived* dp = hd.get(); // Assume this gives pointer of derived class object

  Base* bp = static_cast<Base*> (dp);

  if(bp) {

     hb = Ptr2Handle(bp); // Assume this give reference to Handle 

  }

  return hb;

}

*Derived is actually the derived class from class Base.

What about downward casting in the following code?

template<class Base, class Derived>

inline Handle<Derived> DYNAMIC_CAST(Handle<Base> hb) {

  Handle<Derived> hd;

  Base* bp = hb.get();

  Derived* dp = dynamic_cast<Derived*> (bp);

  if(dp) {

     hd = Ptr2Handle(dp);

  }

  return hd;

}

What will be the impact if the above two MACROS are passed with Base and Derived class swapped?

Answer 1

A static_cast upward (in direction of ancestors) in hierarchy is always legal. That cast will be legal (assuming Base and Derived are classes) iff Base is a base class of Derived.

Answer 2

If Base is really a base class of Derived, there's absolutely no need for any cast, meaning that static_cast in the above code is absolutely superfluous. It doesn't achieve anything a mere assignment wouldn't do implicitly. Moreover, in upcasts (from derived to base), dynamic_cast is absolutely equivalent to static_cast, meaning that dynamic_cast wouldn't achieve anything new either.

Actually, by placing an explicit static_cast cast in that code, its author enabled forceful "reverse" casts (downcasts). I.e. you can use this code to cast from base classes to derived classes. I don't know whether this was the intent (I doubt it was, judging by the template parameter names), and if it wasn't it might be a good idea to remove the cast entirely, since it is dangerous.

If, despite my doubts, the code was actually supposed to support downcasts, then dynamic_cast might indeed help to catch potential errors. However, keep in mind that dynamic_cast works in downcasts with polymorphic class types only.

Answer 3

Assuming Derived is derived from Base the cast although correct is unnecessary. You can directly assign the result of hd.get() to Base*