219 Inheritance

Learn how inheritance allows classes to share code and create powerful hierarchies in OOP.

Objectives

• Define inheritance and explain how it creates relationships between classes

• Use Python to inherit attributes and methods from a parent class

• Understand when and why to use inheritance in your programs

What is inheritance?

Inheritance allows one class (child or subclass) to reuse the attributes and methods of another class (parent or superclass). This avoids duplication and creates clear class relationships.

Example:

class Vehicle:
    def __init__(self, brand):
        self.brand = brand

    def start_engine(self):
        return "Engine started"

class Car(Vehicle):  # Car inherits from Vehicle
    def play_radio(self):
        return "Playing music"

Using the subclass

my_car = Car("Toyota")
print(my_car.start_engine())  # Inherited method
print(my_car.play_radio())    # Defined in subclass

Output

Engine started  
Playing music

Why use inheritance?

• Reuse existing functionality

• Group similar classes into hierarchies

• Simplify large programs and reduce redundancy