Glossary: Inheritance
An OO design builds an application out of a set miniature programs, or
objects.
Each object has a very clear set of responsibilities and one of the tenets of
OO design is that the same job should not be done by two different types
(or classes)
of objects. However objects often form groups with a common theme. For
example clearly objects corresponding to charged and neutral tracks have much
in common even though they are distinct.
To allocate
tasks to a single object, OO invokes the concept of inheritance. Generic
features common to the group are used to define a foundation
(or base class)
and then new, more specialised classes, called
subclasses
or derived classes are formed by inheritance, a process that consists of:-
So a generic track class could
hold all characteristics common to charged and neutral tracks and then charged
and neutral track classes inherit, extending and modifying generic concepts to
the specific.
See OO Concepts: Inheritance
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Nick West