Report Number: CSL-TR-90-418
Institution: Stanford University, Computer Systems Laboratory
Title: Runtime Access to Type Information in C++
Author: Interrante, John A.
Author: Linton, Mark A.
Date: March 1990
Abstract: The C++ language currently does not provide a mechanism for an object to determine its type at runtime. We propose the Dossier class as a standard interface for accessing type information from within a C++ program. We have implemented a tool called mkdossier that automatically generates type information in a form that can be compiled and linked with an application. In the prototype implementation, a class must have a virtual function to access an object's dossier given the object. We propose this access be provided implicitly by the language through a predefined member in all classes.
http://i.stanford.edu/pub/cstr/reports/csl/tr/90/418/CSL-TR-90-418.pdf