Inheritance

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Revision as of 16:13, 15 December 2016 by Alex1 (talk | contribs) (Inheritance)
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Inheritance

 
Class Animal{
   private int age;
   private string name;
   private enum gender{
      Male,
      female
    };
   public Animal(){ //Class Constructor
      //some code to run when a new instance of the class is created
   }
   public void Walk(){
      //some more code
   }
}
  • Basic example class of a generic animal.
 
Class Mammal: Animal{
   private enum hairColour{
      White,
      Black,
      Brown,
      Other
   };
   public Mammal(){ //Class Constructor
      //some code to run when a new instance of the class is created
   }
   public override void Walk(){
      //Some different code
   }
}
  • A new Mammal class that inherits all aspect of the Animal class e.g name or gender but also adds its own unique

data type, hairColour. This data is not accessible to any objects created from the Animal class.

  • Another thing inheritance allows you to do is override existing functions or data types. e.g.

in the Mammal class, the inherited function Walk() is being overridden meaning it can do something completely different to what it does in the Animal class.