Double Dispatch - Examples

Examples

Double dispatch is useful in situations where the choice of computation depends on the runtime types of its arguments. For example, a programmer could use double dispatch in the following situations:

  • Adaptive collision algorithms usually require that collisions between different objects be handled in different ways. A typical example is in a game environment where the collision between a spaceship and an asteroid is computed differently than the collision between a spaceship and a spacestation.
  • Painting algorithms that require the intersection points of overlapping sprites be rendered in a different manner.
  • Personnel management systems may dispatch different types of jobs to different personnel. A schedule algorithm that is given a person object typed as an accountant and a job object typed as engineering rejects the scheduling of that person for that job.
  • Event handling systems that use both the event type and the type of the receptor object in order to call the correct event handling routine.

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