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polymorphism

Polymorphism allows classes related by inheritance to perform actions in different ways, utilizing overridden methods from derived classes. For example, a base class 'Animal' can have derived classes like 'Pig' and 'Dog', each implementing their own version of the 'animalSound()' method. This concept promotes code reusability by enabling new classes to inherit and reuse attributes and methods from existing classes.

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6 views

polymorphism

Polymorphism allows classes related by inheritance to perform actions in different ways, utilizing overridden methods from derived classes. For example, a base class 'Animal' can have derived classes like 'Pig' and 'Dog', each implementing their own version of the 'animalSound()' method. This concept promotes code reusability by enabling new classes to inherit and reuse attributes and methods from existing classes.

Uploaded by

santosh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Polymorphism

Polymorphism means "many forms", and it occurs when we have many


classes that are related to each other by inheritance.

Like we specified in the previous chapter; Inheritance lets us


inherit attributes and methods from another class. Polymorphism uses
those methods to perform different tasks. This allows us to perform
a single action in different ways.

For example, think of a base class called Animal that has a method
called animalSound(). Derived classes of Animals could be Pigs, Cats,
Dogs, Birds - And they also have their own implementation of an
animal sound (the pig oinks, and the cat meows, etc.):

Example
// Base class
class Animal {
public:
void animalSound() {
cout << "The animal makes a sound \n";
}
};

// Derived class
class Pig : public Animal {
public:
void animalSound() {
cout << "The pig says: wee wee \n";
}
};

// Derived class
class Dog : public Animal {
public:
void animalSound() {
cout << "The dog says: bow wow \n";
}
};
Remember from the Inheritance chapter that we use the : symbol to
inherit from a class.

Now we can create Pig and Dog objects and override the
animalSound() method:

Example
// Base class
class Animal {
public:
void animalSound() {
cout << "The animal makes a sound \n";
}
};

// Derived class
class Pig : public Animal {
public:
void animalSound() {
cout << "The pig says: wee wee \n";
}
};

// Derived class
class Dog : public Animal {
public:
void animalSound() {
cout << "The dog says: bow wow \n";
}
};

int main() {
Animal myAnimal;
Pig myPig;
Dog myDog;

myAnimal.animalSound();
myPig.animalSound();
myDog.animalSound();
return 0;
}
Why And When To Use "Inheritance" and "Polymorphism"?
- It is useful for code reusability: reuse attributes and methods
of an existing class when you create a new class.

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