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Chapter 4: Problem 3

Discuss the mechanism of attribute/relationship inheritance. Why is it useful?

Short Answer

Expert verified
Inheritance mechanism in OOP allows a class to inherit attributes and methods from another class, promoting reusability and setting up an 'is-a' relationship. It works through the 'extends' keyword in many languages. This inheritance mechanism reduces code redundancy, increases manageability, and allows for polymorphic behavior.

Step by step solution

01

Understand the Concept of Inheritance

Inheritance is a fundamental principle of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) that allows one class (the 'child', or 'subclass') to inherit the attributes and behaviors of another class (the 'parent', or 'superclass'). Therefore, the child class can reuse, extend, or modify the behavior and fields defined in the parent class.
02

Discuss the Mechanism of Inheritance

The mechanism of inheritance works through the 'extends' keyword in many programming languages like Java. When Class B extends Class A, B inherits all the non-private attributes and methods of A. It means an object of B can access the fields of A. Moreover, B can provide its own implementation for inherited methods (method overriding) or can include additional methods.
03

Explain the Usefulness of Inheritance

Inheritance encourages reusability and is a way to express a relationship between classes. It allows for shared functionality across classes, reducing redundancy and thereby making code more manageable. Moreover, it sets up an 'is-a' relationship, enabling polymorphic behavior. For example, if 'Dog' is a subclass of 'Animal', then a Dog is an Animal and can be treated as such in many software routines, making the code more flexible and extensible.

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