Inheritance in Python

Inheritance is a fundamental concept in object-oriented programming (OOP) that allows a class (called a child or derived class) to inherit attributes and methods from another class (called a parent or base class).

Here, a parent class Animal is created that has a method info(). Then a child class Dog is created that inherits from Animal and adds additional behavior.

Animal name: Buddy
Buddy barks

Explanation:

• class Animal defines the parent class.
• info() prints the name of the animal.
• class Dog(Animal) defines Dog as a child of Animal class.
• d.info() calls parent method info() and d.sound() calls child method.

Benefits Of Inheritance

• Promotes code reusability by sharing attributes and methods across classes.
• Models real-world hierarchies like Animal -> Dog or Person -> Employee.
• Simplifies maintenance through centralized updates in parent classes.
• Enables method overriding for customized subclass behavior.
• Supports scalable, extensible design using polymorphism.

super() Function

super() function is used to call methods from a superclass following Python’s Method Resolution Order (MRO). In particular, it is commonly used in the child class's __init__() method to initialize inherited attributes. This way, the child class can leverage the functionality of the parent class.

Example: Here, Dog uses super() to call Animal's constructor

Animal name: Buddy
Buddy is a Golden Retriever

Explanation:

• super() function is used inside __init__() method of Dog to call the constructor of Animal and initialize inherited attribute (name).
• This ensures that parent class functionality is reused without needing to rewrite the code in the child class.

Method Overriding in Inheritance

Method overriding allows a child class to provide its own implementation of a method that already exists in the parent class. This enables customized behavior while still maintaining the inheritance relationship.

Bark

Explanation:

• Animal defines a method sound().
• Dog inherits from Animal and overrides the sound() method.
• When d.sound() is called, Python executes the overridden method in the child class instead of the parent class method.

Related Articles:

• Types of inheritance
  
• Multiple Inheritance
• super() function
• Method Resolution Order (MRO)