Why should the “PIMPL” idiom be used? [duplicate]

Answer 1

Well, I wouldn't use it. I have a better alternative:

foo.h:

class Foo {
public:
    virtual ~Foo() { }
    virtual void someMethod() = 0;

    // This "replaces" the constructor
    static Foo *create();
}

foo.cpp:

namespace {
    class FooImpl: virtual public Foo {

    public:
        void someMethod() { 
            //....
        }     
    };
}

Foo *Foo::create() {
    return new FooImpl;
}

Does this pattern have a name?

As an also Python and Java programmer, I like this a lot more than the pImpl idiom.