C OOP: Inheritance & function overloading

#include <stdio.h>

///////////////////////////////////////
// Base

typedef struct _base
{
   char*(*GetName)(struct _base*);
   char* name;
} Base;

char* base_get_name(Base* base)
{
   return base->name;
}

void base_init(Base* base, char* name)
{
   base->name = name;
   base->GetName = &base_get_name;
}

///////////////////////////////////////
// Derived

typedef struct
{
   // by making the parent struct the first data member
   // of the derived struct, a `Derived*` can be cast into
   // a `Base*` for pseudo-polymorphism; however, you lose
   // out on static type checking because of this cast, so
   // an `int*` passed in will cause a crash at runtime
   Base Base;
} Derived;

char* derived_get_name(Base* derived)
{
   return "derived";
}

void derived_init(Derived* derived)
{
   derived->Base.name = "";
   derived->Base.GetName = &derived_get_name;
}

//////////////////////////////////////
// Functions

void PrintName(Base* base)
{
   printf("%s\n", base->GetName(base));
}

int main()
{
   Base b;
   base_init(&b, "base");
   PrintName(&b);

   Derived d;
   derived_init(&d);
   PrintName((Base*)(&d));


   // This would compile (because the cast breaks static
   // type checking), but crash:
   // int i = 40;
   // PrintName((Base*)(&i);

   return 0;
}

// output:
// base
// derived