Apply a superclass method on several instances with polymorphism by using pointers in C++

Question

I have a superclass Athlete which provides a virtual void work() method, which is redefined in subclass Climber. I would like to create a big number of instances from the classes Athlete and Climber and apply to them the work() method, in just a couple of lines, thanks to polymorphism. I know, thanks to my searches, that it is possible with pointers, but I don't know how...

I know how to use pointers in order to apply the work() method on these instances, but only if I do that one by one like that:

class Athlete {
          .....
     virtual void work {
          cout << getName() << " is training very hard." << endl;
    }
};

class Climber: public Athlete{
      ......
    void work(){
        cout << getName() << " is climbing very hard." << endl;
    }
    .....
};


    Athlete athlete1 = Athlete(...);
    Climber climber1 = Climber(...);
            ....

    Athlete* a1 = &athlete1;
    Athlete* a2 = &climber1;
            ....

    a1->work();
    a2->work();     
            ....

But I don't know how to use a for-loop to automatically do that for thousands of instances for example. Can someone help me to do that?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

For those who are interested in a concrete solution and come on this page, here is one.

Thanks to the comments under my question, I was able to improve my searches on this topic and found a solution. I don't know if it is the perfect solution for my problem but at least, it works.

Here is the solution:

...

#include <vector>
....

int main(int argc, char* argv[]){

// Create a vector of pointers:
    vector<Athlete*> team;

// Call constructors to create instances:
    Athlete athlete1 = Athlete(...);
    Climber climber1 = Climber(...);
    Athlete athlete2 = Athlete(...);
    Climber climber2 = Climber(...);

// Fill the vector with pointers on instances:
    team = {&athlete1,&athlete2,&climber1,&climber2};

// Apply the work method() on every instances:
    for (Athlete * &i : team) 
    {
        i->work();
    }

    return 0;
}

Maybe someone can give me some improvement suggestions, and probably about the filling of the "team" vector, or about anything else.