Inheritance

One of the important features of OOP.
In C++, it is possible to inherit attributes and methods from one class to another.

We group the "inheritance concept" into two categories:
derived class (child) - the class that inherits from another class
base class (parent) - the class being inherited from

To inherit from a class, use the : symbol.
In the example below, the Car class (child) inherits the attributes and methods from the Vehicle class (parent)

Example:-
// Base class class Vehicle { public: string brand = "Ford"; void honk() { cout << "Tuut, tuut! \n" ; } }; // Derived class class Car: public Vehicle { public: string model = "Mustang"; }; int main() { Car myCar; myCar.honk(); cout << myCar.brand + " " + myCar.model; return 0; }

Why And When To Use "Inheritance"?
- It is useful for code reusability: reuse attributes and methods of an existing class when you create a new class.

There are 3 types of Inheritances supported by C++

Single Level (above example)
Multi Level
// Base class (parent) class MyClass { public: void myFunction() { cout << "Some content in parent class." ; } }; // Derived class (child) class MyChild: public MyClass { }; // Derived class (grandchild) class MyGrandChild: public MyChild { }; int main() { MyGrandChild myObj; myObj.myFunction(); return 0; }

Multiple
// Base class class MyClass { public: void myFunction() { cout << "Some content in parent class." ; } }; // Another base class class MyOtherClass { public: void myOtherFunction() { cout << "Some content in another class." ; } }; // Derived class class MyChildClass: public MyClass, public MyOtherClass { }; int main() { MyChildClass myObj; myObj.myFunction(); myObj.myOtherFunction(); return 0; }