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Say class B derives from class A. That both declare f(). f is protected. Hence f will only be called inside A and inside B. Does f() need to be declared virtual?
Or rather: say C derives from B derives from A. B and A declare protected non-virtual f(). Will a call to f() in C and B resolve to B::f() and in A to A::f()?
In that case, should we always avoid virtual for protected members to have static resolution? Is this done automatically? Thanks!
Declaring your protected method
virtualis necessary when you want polymorphic behaviour (an example to this is the Template Method pattern), and is to be avoided when you don’t. However, in the latter case you should not shadow the function with another function having the same signature in the subclass, otherwise you get puzzling behaviour (like the one you describe in your 2nd paragraph) which opens up the possibility for subtle bugs.