C++ inheritance - getClass() equivalent?

Question

Take the following C++ for example.

vector listAnimal;

class Fish : Animal ...
class Mammal : Animal ...
class Bird : Animal ...

Answer 1

I typically create a pure virtual function that each derived class implements to tell you its identity. Example:

enum AnimalType
{
   Fish = 0,
   Mammal,
   Bird
}

class Animal
{
   virtual AnimalType GetType() const = 0;
}

...

AnimalType Bird::GetType()
{
   return Bird;
}

Then you can do something like this:

if (animal.GetType() == Bird)
{
   // ...
}