Blend static and dynamic polymorphism judiciously

Both static and dynamic polymorphism have their uses. Don’t overuse one when the other would be more appropriate.

Advantages of dynamic polymorphism

• Manipulation based on superset / subset relationship:

  A function that works on base objects also works on derived objects.

• Dynamic binding and separate compilation:

  Code can be compiled separately. So if one derived class changes, only it needs to be recompiled.

• Binary interfacing:

  Modules can be linked statically or dynamically.

Advantages of static polymorphism

• Manipulation based on syntactic and semantic interface:

  Interfaces are implicit, so any type (or type substitution) that fits a given syntax will work.

• Static type checking:

  All types are checked statically.

• Efficiency:

  Compile-time evaluation allows increased optimization.