inserting subclasses into a superclasses array in c++

Question

This is one of those things where i just know im doing it wrong. My assignment is simple.

Create 3 classes in c++,

product ,software ,book. product is super, book and software are product. then make an array of pointers and fill the array with software and books.

so i've done the following

int main()
{
 Product *productList[10];          


 Book *pBook;                       
 Book q(5);
 pBook = &q;
 pBook->getPrice();

 Software *pSoftware;
 Software g(5);
 pSoftware = &g;
 pSoftware ->getPrice();


 productList[0] = pSoftware; // fill it with software, cannot do this.

Is there any way of inserting a subclass into a super classes array. Or should i define the array of pointers as something else.

class definitions below

class Product
{
public:

double price;

double getPrice();

Product::Product(double price){};
};


class Book: public Product
{
public:
Book::Book(double price)
    :Product(price)
{
}
double getPrice();
};

class Software: public Product
{
public:
Software::Software(double price)
    :Product(price)                 // equivalent of super in java?
{
}                                   // code of constructor goes here.
double getPrice();
};

Answer 1

As the array is of type Product, you should declare pSoftware as a pointer to Product:

Product *pSoftware = new Software(5);
// ...
productList[0] = pSoftware;

Answer 2

It's been a while, but what's the default inheritance type in C++? Should

class Book:Product
{

be

class Book: public Product
{

It's always a good idea to be explicit anyway.

Answer 3

Can't you just cast the software* to a product* to put it in your array?
productList[0] = (Product*)pSoftware;

Answer 4

You should use public inheritance:

class Book : public Product {
...
};

[edit]

You should also declare getPrice() as virtual if you want to implement it differently in the child classes. This will make compiler call getPrice() of the right child class when you call getPrice() for a pointer to a Product:

virtual double getPrice();