--- title: Static Polymorphy in C++ | daily.dev description: Explains the Curiously Recurring Template Pattern (CRTP) in C++ as an alternative to virtual functions for achieving polymorphism at compile time. Using an... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/static-polymorphy-in-c--3rtmrvteu twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Static Polymorphy in C++ | daily.dev og:description: Explains the Curiously Recurring Template Pattern (CRTP) in C++ as an alternative to virtual functions for achieving polymorphism at compile time. Using an... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/static-polymorphy-in-c--3rtmrvteu og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/3RtmRVtEU.png og:image:alt: Static Polymorphy in C++ og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Static Polymorphy in C++ **[Jacek Galowicz](https://daily.dev/sources/galowicz)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Explains the Curiously Recurring Template Pattern (CRTP) in C++ as an alternative to virtual functions for achieving polymorphism at compile time. Using an Animal/Dog/Cat example, it demonstrates how a base class template can call methods on its derived type via a static cast of `this`, eliminating vtable overhead. Covers trade-offs: CRTP avoids vtable pointer size growth and double pointer indirection at the cost of losing runtime dispatch and producing distinct types per instantiation. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Devirtualization and Static Polymorphism](https://daily.dev/posts/devirtualization-and-static-polymorphism-shj1ph5cl) · C\+\+ · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to Use the CRTP to Reduce Duplication](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-the-crtp-to-reduce-duplication-4rwvptslr) · Jacek Galowicz · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Beyond Virtual Functions: High-Performance Polymorphism with C\+\+17 std::variant and std::visit](https://daily.dev/posts/beyond-virtual-functions-high-performance-polymorphism-with-c-17-std-variant-and-std-visit-h29ex98g7) · Towards Dev · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [C\+\+26: std::polymorphic](https://daily.dev/posts/c-26-std-polymorphic-zsy0pbvxy) · Sandor Dargo · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Wages of Inheritance](https://daily.dev/posts/wages-of-inheritance-m0y7kf0tf) · The Daily WTF · 0 upvotes · 1 comments --- Tags: [#c++](https://daily.dev/tags/c++) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/static-polymorphy-in-c--3rtmrvteu) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Static Polymorphy in C++","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/static-polymorphy-in-c--3rtmrvteu","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/static-polymorphy-in-c--3rtmrvteu"},"datePublished":"2026-04-18T22:20:05.518Z","dateModified":"2026-04-18T22:20:55.361Z","description":"Explains the Curiously Recurring Template Pattern (CRTP) in C++ as an alternative to virtual functions for achieving polymorphism at compile time. 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