Introduction to Inheritance

Definition

Inheritance is a fundamental concept in object-oriented programming that allows a new class to inherit properties and behaviors from an existing one. Through inheritance, the new class, often referred to as a subclass, gains the attributes and methods of the existing class, known as the superclass.

To better understand the concepts of inheritance, let’s look at some practical examples. The primary benefit of inheritance is code reuse. For example, Student and Teacher classes reuse the code from Person (name, age, and display_info method). This reduces redundancy and makes the code more maintainable.

Syntax of inheritance

A derived class is declared using a class declaration that specifies the base class from which it inherits. This is done using a colon followed by the access specifier (public, protected, or private) and the base class name.

base_inheritance


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class Base {
    // Base class members
};

class Derived : public Base {
    // Derived class members
};

Base class (superclass): the class whose properties and functions are inherited. It is also known as the parent or superclass.
Derived class (subclass): the class that inherits from the parent. It is also known as the child or subclass.
Access specifier: this specifier determines how the members of the base class are inherited by the derived class.
Inheritance: the colon (:) followed by the accessSpecifier and BaseClass indicates that DerivedClass is inheriting from BaseClass.

Types of Inheritance

There are multiple times of inheritance. Each type offers a unique way of establishing relationships between classes, thereby providing a foundation for effective object-oriented design. Here are the main types of inheritance:

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Зміст курсу

C++ OOP

1. Fundamentals of OOP in C++

2. Constructors and Destructors

3. Encapsulation Overview

Introduction to Encapsulation Access Modifiers Keywords Access Modifiers Practice Accessor and Mutator Methods Segmentation and Aggregation The Friend Keyword

4. Inheritance Overview

Introduction to Inheritance Access Modifiers in Inheritance Mulptiple Inheritance Constructor and Destructor in Inheritance Diamond Inheritance The Final Keyword

5. Polymorphism Overview

Introduction to Polymorphism Virtual and Override Keywords Pure Virtual Method Operator Overloading Summary and Overview