C++ Compound Objects

Fig 1. Class and Object Relationships

Compound Objects are composite structures built by combining classes with the four class relationships:

Inheritance: an "is-a" relationship
Composition: ownership by inclusion of one class instance by another
Aggregation: ownership by including of a reference of one class instance by another
Using: non-ownership relationship where one class uses an instance of another it did not create

Example: TextFinder

Fig 1. TextFinder Class Diagram

CompoundObjects code was built with Visual Studio Community Edition - 2019 and tested on Windows 10.

Discusses some details of how the four class relationships work in C++.