I want to specifically invoke the base class method; what's the most concise way to do this? For example:
class Base { public: bool operator != (Base&); }; class Child : public Base { public: bool operator != (Child& child_) { if(Base::operator!=(child_)) // Is there a more concise syntax than this? return true; // ... Some other comparisons that Base does not know about ... return false; } }; No, that is as concise as it gets. Base::operator!= is the name of the method.
And yes, what you are doing is standard.
However, in your example (unless you have removed some code), you do not need Child::operator!= at all. It does the same thing as Base::operator!= will.
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if ( *((Base*)this) != child_ ) return true; 2
if ( *(static_cast<Base*>(this)) != child_ ) return true; 3
class Base { public: bool operator != (Base&); Base & getBase() { return *this;} Base const & getBase() const { return *this;} }; if ( getBase() != child_ ) return true; What you're doing is the most concise and "standard" way to do it, but some people prefer this:
class SomeBase { public: bool operator!=(const SomeBaseClass& other); }; class SomeObject: public SomeBase { typedef SomeBase base; // Define alias for base class public: bool operator!=(const SomeObject &other) { // Use alias if (base::operator!=(other)) return true; // ... return false; } }; The benefits of this method is that it clarifies intention, it gives you a standard abbreviation for what could be a long base-class name, and if your base class changes, you don't have to change every use of the base.
See Using "super" in C++ for additional discussion.
(Personally, I don't care for this, and I don't recommend it, but I think it is one valid answer to the question.)
if (condition) return true; return false; can be abbreviated to
return condition; I'd get rid of the if/then control structure and just return the return value of the base class operator, but otherwise what you're doing is fine.
It can be a bit more concise, though: return ((Base&)*this) != child_;
operator!=should be a const method, and take const parameters.