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Everything about Inheritance (object-oriented programming)

Process of deriving classes from, and organizing them into, a hierarchy

In object-oriented programming, inheritance is the mechanism of basing an object or class upon another object or class, retaining similar implementation. It is also defined as deriving new classes from existing ones such as super class or base class and then forming them into a hierarchy of classes. In most class-based object-oriented languages like C++, an object created through inheritance, a "child object", acquires all the properties and behaviors of the "parent object", with the exception of: constructors, destructors, overloaded operators and friend functions of the base class. Inheritance allows programmers to create classes that are built upon existing classes, to specify a new implementation while maintaining the same behaviors, to reuse code and to independently extend original software via public classes and interfaces. The relationships of objects or classes through inheritance give rise to a directed acyclic graph. Wikipedia →

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

  1. Read the overview: Inheritance (object-oriented programming)A 5-minute orientation
  2. Skim a recent paper: Puzzle Pattern, a Systematic Approach to Multiple Behavioral Inheritance Implementation in Object-Oriented ProgrammingInfluential work since 2022
  3. Pick up a classic book: Fundamentals of Computer Programming with CSharp Free Book (by Nakov & Co.)The most-reprinted book on the subject
  4. Read the landmark paper: Encapsulation and inheritance in object-oriented programming languagesCited 78 times
  5. Go sideways: Fragile base classA closely related topic
  6. Go sideways: Class (programming)A closely related topic

📖 Definitions

No dictionary entry for this exact phrase.

🗂️ The subject at a glance

  1. History
  2. Types
  3. Subclasses and superclasses
  4. Visibility of inherited members
  5. Applications
  6. Inheritance vs subtyping
  7. Issues and alternatives

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

🆕 Influential since 2022

📚 Books worth reading

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

🔗 Related topics