Skip to main content

Single Inheritance in Python

 


Learning Sections          show

Single Inheritance in Python

Single inheritance is a fundamental concept in object-oriented programming (OOP) where a derived class (child class) inherits properties and behaviors (methods) from a single base class (parent class). This mechanism allows for code reuse, logical organization, and the creation of hierarchical relationships between classes.

Example of Single Inheritance

Let's look at an example to understand how single inheritance works in Python.


# Define the base class
class Animal:
    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name

    def speak(self):
        return f"{self.name} makes a noise"

# Define the derived class
class Dog(Animal):
    def speak(self):
        return f"{self.name} barks"

# Create an instance of the derived class
dog = Dog("Buddy")
print(dog.speak())  # Output: Buddy barks
Explanation:

In this example, we have two classes: Animal and Dog. The Animal class is the base class with an initializer method __init__ that sets the name of the animal and a method speak that returns a string indicating the animal makes a noise. The Dog class is the derived class that inherits from Animal and overrides the speak method to return a string indicating the dog barks.

Creating a Hierarchical Structure

Single inheritance allows the creation of a hierarchical structure where more specific classes inherit from more general classes. This helps in organizing code in a logical and meaningful way. For instance, consider the following example:


# Base class
class Vehicle:
    def __init__(self, make, model):
        self.make = make
        self.model = model

    def display_info(self):
        return f"Vehicle: {self.make} {self.model}"

# Derived class
class Car(Vehicle):
    def display_info(self):
        return f"Car: {self.make} {self.model}"

car = Car("Toyota", "Corolla")
print(car.display_info())  # Output: Car: Toyota Corolla
Advantages of Single Inheritance
  • Code Reusability: Methods and attributes defined in the base class can be reused in the derived class, reducing code duplication.
  • Logical Structure: Establishes a clear and logical hierarchical structure, making the code easier to understand and maintain.
  • Method Overriding: Allows the derived class to override methods of the base class to provide specific functionality.
Disadvantages of Single Inheritance
  • Limited Reuse: Single inheritance restricts the derived class to inherit from only one base class, limiting reuse if multiple base classes have useful methods or attributes.
  • Tight Coupling: The derived class is tightly coupled to the base class, meaning changes in the base class can affect the derived class.
Key Points
  • Single inheritance involves a derived class inheriting from a single base class.
  • The derived class can access and override methods and attributes of the base class.
  • Helps in organizing code in a hierarchical manner.
  • Provides benefits like code reuse, logical structure, and method overriding.
  • Has some limitations like limited reuse and tight coupling.
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction to OOPs in Python

  Learning Sections          show Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm that organizes software design around objects rather than actions and data rather than logic. It revolves around the concept of "objects", which are instances of classes. These objects encapsulate data, in the form of attributes or properties, and behaviors, in the form of methods or functions. OOP promotes modularity, reusability, and extensibility in software development. Key Concepts of OOP: Class: A class is a blueprint or template for creating objects. It defines the attributes (data) and methods (functions) that will characterize any object instantiated from that class. Object: An object is an instance of a class. It is a concrete realization of the class blueprint, containing actual values instead of placeholders for attributes. Encapsulation: Encapsulation is ...
Read more

Inheritance in Python

  Learning Sections          show Inheritance in Python Inheritance is a fundamental concept in object-oriented programming (OOP) that allows a class to inherit attributes and methods from another class. The class that inherits is called the child class or subclass, and the class being inherited from is called the parent class or superclass. Basic Inheritance In Python, a child class inherits from a parent class by specifying the parent class in parentheses after the child class name. Example: class Animal : def __init__ ( self , name ): self . name = name def speak ( self ): raise NotImplementedError ( "Subclass must implement this method" ) class Dog ( Animal ): def speak ( self ): return "Woof!" class Cat ( Animal ): def speak ( self ): return "Meow!" # Create instances of Dog and Cat dog = Dog ( "Buddy" ) cat = Cat ( "Whiskers" ...
Read more

read(), readlines() and other methods in Python

Learning Sections          show read(), readlines() and Other Methods in Python Python provides several methods to read from and manipulate files. Here are some common methods: 1. read() The read() method reads the entire content of a file and returns it as a string. # Open the file in read mode with open ( 'example.txt' , 'r' ) as file : # Read the entire content of the file content = file . read () print ( content ) 2. readlines() The readlines() method reads all the lines of a file and returns a list where each element is a line in the file. # Open the file in read mode with open ( 'example.txt' , 'r' ) as file : # Read all lines of the file lines = file . readlines () for line in lines : print ( line . strip ()) # strip() removes the newline character 3. readline() The readline() method reads one line from the file and returns it as a...
Read more