Module 3–Inheritance & Polymorphism
DAYANANDA SAGAR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ShavigeMalleshwara Hills, Kumaraswamy Layout, Bengaluru-560078
(An Autonomous Institution affiliated to VTU, Belagavi)
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Module 3
Inheritance
Inheritance is a process in which one object acquires all the properties and behaviors of its parent
object automatically. the class which inherits the members of another class is called derived class
and the class whose members are inherited is called base class. The derived class is the
specialized class for the base class.
Advantage of C++ Inheritance
Code reusability: Now you can reuse the members of your parent class. So, there is no need to
define the member again. So less code is required in the class.
Types of Inheritance
C++ supports five types of inheritance:
Single inheritance
Multiple inheritance
Hierarchical inheritance
Multilevel inheritance
Hybrid inheritance
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Module 3–Inheritance & Polymorphism
Derived Classes
A Derived class is defined as the class derived from the base class.
The Syntax of Derived class:
class derived_class_name : visibility-mode base_class_name
{
// body of the derived class.
}
Where,
derived_class_name: It is the name of the derived class.
visibility mode: The visibility mode specifies whether the features of the base class are publicly
inherited or privately inherited. It can be public or private.
base_class_name: It is the name of the base class.
When the base class is privately inherited by the derived class, public members of the base
class becomes the private members of the derived class. Therefore, the public members of the
base class are not accessible by the objects of the derived class only by the member functions
of the derived class.
When the base class is publicly inherited by the derived class, public members of the base
class also become the public members of the derived class. Therefore, the public members of
the base class are accessible by the objects of the derived class as well as by the member
functions of the base class.
Note:
In C++, the default mode of visibility is private.
The private members of the base class are never inherited.
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Module 3–Inheritance & Polymorphism
C++ Single Inheritance
Single inheritance is defined as the inheritance in which a derived class is inherited from the
only one base class.
Where 'A' is the base class, and 'B' is the derived class.
C++ Single Level Inheritance Example: Inheriting Fields
When one class inherits another class, it is known as single level inheritance. Let's see the
example of single level inheritance which inherits the fields only.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class Account {
public:
float salary = 60000;
};
class Programmer: public Account {
public:
float bonus = 5000;
};
int main(void) {
Programmer p1;
cout<<"Salary: "<<p1.salary<<endl;
cout<<"Bonus: "<<p1.bonus<<endl;
return 0;
}
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Output:
Salary: 60000
Bonus: 5000
In the above example, Employee is the base class and Programmer is the derived class.
C++ Single Level Inheritance Example: Inheriting Methods
Let's see another example of inheritance in C++ which inherits methods only.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class Animal {
public:
void eat() {
cout<<"Eating..."<<endl;
}
};
class Dog: public Animal
{
public:
void bark(){
cout<<"Barking...";
}
};
int main(void) {
Dog d1;
d1.eat();
d1.bark();
return 0;
}
Output:
Eating...
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Barking...
Let's see a simple example.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class A
{
int a = 4;
int b = 5;
public:
int mul()
{
int c = a*b;
return c;
}
};
class B : private A
{
public:
void display()
{
int result = mul();
cout <<"Multiplication of a and b is : "<<result<< endl;
}
};
int main()
{
B b;
b.display();
return 0;
}
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Output:
Multiplication of a and b is : 20
In the above example, class A is privately inherited. Therefore, the mul() function of class 'A'
cannot be accessed by the object of class B. It can only be accessed by the member function of
class B.
How to make a Private Member Inheritable
The private member is not inheritable. If we modify the visibility mode by making it public, but
this takes away the advantage of data hiding.
C++ introduces a third visibility modifier, i.e., protected. The member which is declared as
protected will be accessible to all the member functions within the class as well as the class
immediately derived from it.
Visibility modes can be classified into three categories:
Public: When the member is declared as public, it is accessible to all the functions of the
program.
Private: When the member is declared as private, it is accessible within the class only.
Protected: When the member is declared as protected, it is accessible within its own class as well
as the class immediately derived from it.
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Visibility of Inherited Members
Base class visibility Derived class visibility
Public Private Protected
Private Not Inherited Not Inherited Not Inherited
Protected Protected Private Protected
Public Public Private Protected
C++ Multilevel Inheritance
Multilevel inheritance is a process of deriving a class from another derived class.
C++ Multi Level Inheritance Example
When one class inherits another class which is further inherited by another class, it is known as
multi level inheritance in C++. Inheritance is transitive so the last derived class acquires all the
members of all its base classes.
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Module 3–Inheritance & Polymorphism
Let's see the example of multi level inheritance in C++.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class Animal {
public:
void eat() {
cout<<"Eating..."<<endl;
}
};
class Dog: public Animal
{
public:
void bark(){
cout<<"Barking..."<<endl;
}
};
class BabyDog: public Dog
{
public:
void weep() {
cout<<"Weeping...";
}
};
int main(void) {
BabyDog d1;
d1.eat();
d1.bark();
d1.weep();
return 0;
}
Output:
Eating...
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Module 3–Inheritance & Polymorphism
Barking...
Weeping...
C++ Multiple Inheritance
Multiple inheritance is the process of deriving a new class that inherits the attributes from two
or more classes.
Syntax of the Derived class:
class D : visibility B-1, visibility B-2
{
// Body of the class;
}
Let's see a simple example of multiple inheritance.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class A
{
protected:
int a;
public:
void get_a(int n)
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{
a = n;
}
};
class B
{
protected:
int b;
public:
void get_b(int n)
{
b = n;
}
};
class C : public A, public B
{
public:
void display()
{
cout << "The value of a is : " <<a<< endl;
cout << "The value of b is : " <<b<< endl;
cout<<"Addition of a and b is : "<<a+b;
}
};
int main()
{
C c;
c.get_a(10);
c.get_b(20);
c.display();
return 0;
}
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Output:
The value of a is : 10
The value of b is : 20
Addition of a and b is : 30
In the above example, class 'C' inherits two base classes 'A' and 'B' in a public mode.
C++ Hybrid Inheritance
Hybrid inheritance is a combination of more than one type of inheritance.
Let's see a simple example:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class A
{
protected:
int a;
public:
void get_a()
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{
cout << "Enter the value of 'a' : " << endl;
cin>>a;
}
};
class B : public A
{
protected:
int b;
public:
void get_b()
{
cout << "Enter the value of 'b' : " << endl;
cin>>b;
}
};
class C
{
protected:
int c;
public:
void get_c()
{
cout << "Enter the value of c is : " << endl;
cin>>c;
}
};
class D : public B, public C
{
protected:
int d;
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public:
void mul()
{
get_a();
get_b();
get_c();
cout << "Multiplication of a,b,c is : " <<a*b*c<< endl;
}
};
int main()
{
D d;
d.mul();
return 0;
}
Output:
Enter the value of 'a' :
10
Enter the value of 'b' :
20
Enter the value of c is :
30
Multiplication of a,b,c is : 6000
C++ Hierarchical Inheritance
Hierarchical inheritance is defined as the process of deriving more than one class from a base
class.
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Syntax of Hierarchical inheritance:
class A
{
// body of the class A.
}
class B : public A
{
// body of class B.
}
class C : public A
{
// body of class C.
}
class D : public A
{
// body of class D.
}
Let's see a simple example:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class Shape // Declaration of base class.
{
public:
int a;
int b;
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void get_data(int n,int m)
{
a= n;
b = m;
}
};
class Rectangle : public Shape // inheriting Shape class
{
public:
int rect_area()
{
int result = a*b;
return result;
}
};
class Triangle : public Shape // inheriting Shape class
{
public:
int triangle_area()
{
float result = 0.5*a*b;
return result;
}
};
int main()
{
Rectangle r;
Triangle t;
int length,breadth,base,height;
cout << "Enter the length and breadth of a rectangle: " << endl;
cin>>length>>breadth;
r.get_data(length,breadth);
int m = r.rect_area();
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cout << "Area of the rectangle is : " <<m<<endl;
cout << "Enter the base and height of the triangle: " << endl;
cin>>base>>height;
t.get_data(base,height);
float n = t.triangle_area();
cout <<"Area of the triangle is : " << n<< endl;
return 0;
}
Output:
Enter the length and breadth of a rectangle:
23
20
Area of the rectangle is : 460
Enter the base and height of the triangle:
2
5
Area of the triangle is : 5
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