If no other classes can derive from a class, then you know that all the pointers to that class point to objects of a uniform size. This can simplify memory management and file storage. The idea is to first define a dummy class with a private default constructor. Then virtually derive all the other classes for which you want to inhibit derivation from the dummy class and declare them as friends of the dummy class:

 class CDummy{private:  //Private default constructor  CDummy() {}  friend class CX1;  friend class CX2;  //...};

The class CDummy is a virtual base for the classes CX1, CX2.

 class CX1 : virtual public CDummy{public:  //Constructor, can invoke CDummy's private constructor.  CX1() {}};

The constructor of CDummy is private, but CX1 is a friend, so it can invoke that private constructor. But here’s what happens if you try to derive a class CY1 from CX1:

 class CY1 : public CX1{public:  //Constructor, cannot invoke CDummy's private constructor  CY1() {}};

Because CY1 has CDummy as a virtual base, it must initialize it, but it cannot. You get a compile time error, for example in the case of the VC++ compiler you get the message:

 "'CDummy::CDummy' : cannot access private member declared in class'CDummy'"