On Fri, 10 Apr 2026, 10:39 Frederick Virchanza Gotham via Std-Proposals, <
std-proposals_at_[hidden]> wrote:

> In a job interview recently I was given the following code:
>
> #include <iostream>
> #include <memory>
> #include <string>
>
> struct Animal {
> virtual ~Animal() = default;
> virtual std::string name() const = 0;
> };
>
> struct Cat : Animal {
> std::string name(void) const override
> {
> return "Cat";
> }
> };
>
> struct Dog : Animal {
> std::string name(void) const override
> {
> return "Dog";
> }
> };
>
> /* DO NOT CHANGE THE CODE BELOW! */
>
> void print_name(Animal const &a)
> {
> std::cout << a.name() << std::endl;
> }
>
> int main(void)
> {
> Cat cat;
> Dog dog;
> print_name(cat);
> print_name(dog);
> }
>
> I was told to remove the inheritance, but I wasn't allowed to edit
> code beneath the indicated line.
>

Or you could just add overloads of print_name taking Cat and Dog which
works today and is simple to understand. That's the answer I would hope for
if I asked that question.

No std::function, no allocations, no hanging reference captures, no new
language features needed. Just clear code.