Inheritance: Extending Classes

Inheritance - Extending Classes

Inheritance is a way to create a new class using details from an existing class without starting from scratch

1. The Family Gene (Biological Inheritance)

Think about yourself and your parents.

• Inherited Traits: You likely inherited traits from your parents—eye color, hair texture, maybe even a specific walk. You didn't have to "learn" or "build" these from scratch; you got them from your parents because you are their child.
• Unique Traits: But you aren't a exact clone. You have your own unique skills (maybe you know Python, and they don't! ) or you might be having different physical traits which are not same as your parents

2. The Smart Document (Template Inheritance)

Think of a Standard Office Document Template.

• The Template (Parent): Has the company logo, address, and footer.
• The Specific Letter (Child): You don't redraw the logo every time you write a memo. You "inherit" the template and just add the body text.
• If the company changes its logo, you update the Template (Parent), and every new letter (Child) automatically gets the new logo.

In programming, a Child Class inherits all the foundational code (methods and variables) from the Parent Class for free. It allows you to focus only on what is different or unique, rather than rewriting the basics over and over. This is the essence of Write Once, Use Everywhere

Technical Deep Dive: "Is-A" Relationship

In technical terms, inheritance models an "Is-A" Relationship​

• A Car is a Vehicle.
• A Dog is an Animal.
• A Manager is an Employee.

If you can say Car is a Vehicle, then Car can likely inherit from Vehicle. so If you have the Blueprint of Vehicle , you can simply create the Blueprint of Car.