nA downcast operation is when a pointer to a direct or indirect base class is converted to a pointer to a
derived class.
nThe static_cast operator
syntax is
n static_cast<type*>(expr)
n where expr is
an expression pointing to a direct or indirect base class object and type is a derived class.
nThe result of the cast
operation is that expr is converted to
a pointer to the specified type, converting the static type of one pointer into another.
nAs such, it depends on
the programmer to ensure that the
conversion is correct. It is inherently unsafe because no run time type information is used.