Question:
If I have an abstract base class with a pure virtual function called get_data(), how do I declare the function in inherited classes to have different return types than get_data() in the base class? For example:

class sensor{public:  get_data(void) = 0;  // this should have a      };                      //return typeclass Temp_sensor : public sensor{public:  Temperature get_data(void);};class IBP_Sensor : public sensor{public:  IBP get_data(void);   // different return type};                      // required

Answer:
In general, you cannot. Because code that calls a virtual function doesn’t need to know which class will service the call, it is important that all classes implement the function with the same arguments and return types. An important part of such a design is making sure your base class has the appropriate types.

The only other approach I can see is to have the function return a pointer or union or something that can contain different types of data depending on how it is used.