Virtual member call in a constructor

Question

I\'m getting a warning from ReSharper about a call to a virtual member from my objects constructor.

Why would this be something not to do?

Answer 1

Because until the constructor has completed executing, the object is not fully instantiated. Any members referenced by the virtual function may not be initialised. In C++, when you are in a constructor, this only refers to the static type of the constructor you are in, and not the actual dynamic type of the object that is being created. This means that the virtual function call might not even go where you expect it to.