Lesson 7.4: Inheritance and Polymorphism
Introduction:
Inheritance and polymorphism are core OOP principles that promote code reuse and flexibility. Inheritance allows a class to acquire properties and methods of another class, while polymorphism enables objects of different classes to be treated in a similar way.
1. Inheritance:
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Allows a child class to inherit attributes and methods from a parent class.
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Reduces code duplication and promotes modular design.
Example – Single Inheritance:
Example – Multiple Inheritance:
2. Polymorphism:
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Allows objects of different classes to be treated the same way using a common interface.
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Supports method overriding and operator overloading.
Example – Method Overriding:
3. Practical Tips:
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Use inheritance to reuse code and simplify class structure
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Use polymorphism to write flexible functions that work with multiple object types
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Avoid deep inheritance hierarchies to maintain code readability
Learning Outcome of This Lesson:
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Understand how inheritance promotes code reuse
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Implement single and multiple inheritance in Python
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Apply polymorphism to allow consistent interfaces across different classes
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Override methods to customize behavior in child classes
