c++ , issues with return type of member functions in subclasses

Question

Before I ask my question, I'll describe the scenario.

Let's say I have a class called BinaryOperator with 2 subclasses: And, Or.

I am wondering if it is possible for me to define a function f() in And with return type Or* like so:

Or* And::f()

And also define a function g() in Or with return type And* like so:

And* Or::g()

When I try to do this, I end up with a compile error saying along the lines of " 'Or' does not name a type".

Please, if you can, any clarity will be appreciated.

Answer 1

What you are looking for is something like this:

class Or; // <-- forward declaration

class And : public BinaryOperator
{
public:
    Or* f();
};

class Or : public BinaryOperator
{
public:
    And* g();
};