Inheritance and Polymorphism

Inheritance

Inheritance is the process by which one class takes on the attributes and methods of another. Newly formed classes are called child classes, and the classes that child classes are derived from are called parent classes.

It promotes code reusability and establishes an "is-a" relationship.

Using super()

The super() built-in function returns a temporary object of the superclass that allows you to call that superclass's methods. It's often used in the __init__ method of a child class to ensure the parent class is properly initialized.

Polymorphism and Method Overriding

Polymorphism means "many forms." In Python, it allows child classes to have methods with the same name as methods in their parent classes but with different implementations. This is called method overriding.

class Animal:
    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name

    def speak(self):
        return "Some generic sound"

class Cat(Animal):
    def __init__(self, name, breed):
        super().__init__(name)  # Call parent constructor
        self.breed = breed

    # Method Overriding
    def speak(self):
        return "Meow!"

class Dog(Animal):
    # Method Overriding
    def speak(self):
        return "Woof!"

animals = [Cat("Whiskers", "Siamese"), Dog("Rex")]

for animal in animals:
    print(f"{animal.name} says {animal.speak()}")