RTTI is the official way in standard C++ to discover the type of an object and to convert the type of a pointer or reference (that is, dynamic typing). The need came from practical experience with C++. RTTI replaces many homegrown versions with a solid, consistent approach. It has many features and capabilities; this chapter discusses dynamic_cast<T>(), static_cast<T>(), and typeid(). Other features, such as const_cast() and reinterpret_cast(), and issues related to multiple/private/protected/virtual inheritance are not discussed.
