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Memory alignment in C++ becomes more complex with inheritance. POD structures use implicit composition where the base class is added as the first member. Non-POD inheritance allows compilers like Clang to remove final alignment padding for more compact layouts, while MSVC maintains full composition. Empty base optimization eliminates memory overhead for empty base classes by aligning them with the derived class's first member. Multiple inheritance follows similar rules, with Clang producing more compact layouts than MSVC due to Itanium ABI. MSVC optimizes only the first empty base class in multiple inheritance unless using __declspec(empty_bases).

Silent foe or quiet ally: Brief guide to alignment in C++. Part 2

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