How is this code feasibly valid?

Question

is this code valid? https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/a/8484/10138 I just don't see how Mortal(mortal) - an instantiation of the Mortal contract with one parameter - is possible when Mortal takes no parameters!

Answer 1

I can see why you're confused. The key thing to know here is that typename(X) looks the same as functionname(parametername) but is actually a totally different operation you may well be familiar with, casting.

For those who don't know, casting is about changing the type of a variable, usually from a simpler type to a more complex type that typically inherits from it. For example, you may want to cast a uint32 to the larger-but-still-compatible uint64 type. To do that, you preface the name of the variable you want to cast with the name of the type you want to cast it to, and then surround it with parentheses like this:

uint64(mycurrentvariablewhichisauint32)

In the case of your question, we are specifically looking at a lesser known feature of the Solidity language: contracts all inherit from the "address" type, and therefore address types can be casted to contract types.

Given this information, it's easy to see what's going on in the snippet you reference. As Badr points out, the confusingly named address "mortal" is assumed by the snippet to be the address of an already instantiated copy of a mortal type contract (or technically mortal-interface-compatible since it doesn't have to be exactly mortal it just has to include the function signatures mortal includes, usually because it inherited from it). However, in order to actually call one of the mortal functions you have to tell solidity that this particular address is a contract of type mortal. You do that by casting the address to the mortal type:

Mortal(theaddressofthecontractwhichisactuallyamortaltypecontract)

This is not a call to the constructor for Mortal, which would look like new Mortal() and would generate its own brand new address from scratch. Make sense?

Answer 2

you mean this snippet code :

function checkMortal(address mortal) {
    if (Mortal(mortal).owner() == 0) {
        // You know it is dead.
    } else {
        // You know it is alive.
    }
}

the Mortal(mortal) in this case is an instantiation of the Mortal contract, it is similar to

function checkMortal(address mortal) {

Mortal M=Mortal(mortal);
        if (M.owner() == 0) {
            // You know it is dead.
        } else {
            // You know it is alive.
        }
    }