Inheritance is a fundamental concept in object-oriented programming that allows you to create a new class (child class) that inherits attributes and methods from an existing class (parent class). This promotes code reuse and establishes a relationship between classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Creating a Parent Class<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
You define a parent class by creating a regular class. This class will serve as the base class for other classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this example, the Animal<\/code> class has an initializer (__init__<\/code>), a method speak<\/code> which must be implemented by subclasses, and an info<\/code> method that returns information about the animal. A parent class is defined just like any other class in Python. It contains methods and attributes that can be inherited by child classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
class Animal:\n def __init__(self, name):\n self.name = name\n\n def speak(self):\n raise NotImplementedError("Subclasses must implement this method")\n\n def info(self):\n return f"I am an animal named {self.name}"<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Creating a Child Class<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
You define a child class by specifying the parent class in parentheses after the class name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Explanation:<\/strong> A child class inherits attributes and methods from the parent class and can override or extend them. The Dog<\/code> and Cat<\/code> classes inherit from the Animal<\/code> class and provide their own implementation of the speak<\/code> method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can create instances of the child classes and use their inherited and overridden methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instances of child classes can access methods and attributes defined in the parent class as well as their own methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
dog = Dog("Buddy")\ncat = Cat("Whiskers")\n\nprint(dog.info()) # Output: I am an animal named Buddy\nprint(dog.speak()) # Output: Woof!\nprint(cat.info()) # Output: I am an animal named Whiskers\nprint(cat.speak()) # Output: Meow!<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Extending the Child Class<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
You can add new methods or attributes to a child class that are not present in the parent class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Child classes can have additional functionality not defined in the parent class. The Bird<\/code> class has an additional attribute can_fly<\/code> and a new method fly<\/code>, along with overriding the speak<\/code> method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
class Bird(Animal):\n def __init__(self, name, can_fly=True):\n super().__init__(name)\n self.can_fly = can_fly\n\n def speak(self):\n return "Chirp!"\n\n def fly(self):\n return "I can fly!" if self.can_fly else "I cannot fly."\n\nbird = Bird("Tweety")\nprint(bird.info()) # Output: I am an animal named Tweety\nprint(bird.speak()) # Output: Chirp!\nprint(bird.fly()) # Output: I can fly!<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Python Inheritance Example Code<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
This program creates an Animal<\/code> class and its child classes Dog<\/code>, Cat<\/code>, and Bird<\/code>. It demonstrates the inheritance of methods, overriding methods, and extending classes with new functionality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
class Animal:\n def __init__(self, name):\n self.name = name\n\n def speak(self):\n raise NotImplementedError("Subclasses must implement this method")\n\n def info(self):\n return f"I am an animal named {self.name}"\n\nclass Dog(Animal):\n def speak(self):\n return "Woof!"\n\nclass Cat(Animal):\n def speak(self):\n return "Meow!"\n\nclass Bird(Animal):\n def __init__(self, name, can_fly=True):\n super().__init__(name)\n self.can_fly = can_fly\n\n def speak(self):\n return "Chirp!"\n\n def fly(self):\n return "I can fly!" if self.can_fly else "I cannot fly."\n\n# Using the classes\ndog = Dog("Mochi")\ncat = Cat("Whiskers")\nbird = Bird("Tweety")\n\nprint(dog.info()) # Output: I am an animal named Buddy\nprint(dog.speak()) # Output: Woof!\nprint(cat.info()) # Output: I am an animal named Whiskers\nprint(cat.speak()) # Output: Meow!\nprint(bird.info()) # Output: I am an animal named Tweety\nprint(bird.speak()) # Output: Chirp!\nprint(bird.fly()) # Output: I can fly!<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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