Inheritance vs. Polymorphism: What\'s the Difference?

Delving into the Key Distinction between Inheritance and Polymorphism

While inheritance and polymorphism may appear similar at first glance, there is a fundamental difference that distinguishes them.

Inheritance: Passing on Traits

Inheritance refers to the relationship between classes, where one class (the child class) inherits the properties and behaviors of another class (the parent class). For instance, a Person class may have fields for name, age, and address. If we create a Student class that extends Person, the Student class will automatically inherit all these properties.

Polymorphism: Varying Behavior

Polymorphism, on the other hand, deals with the concept of objects of different classes responding differently to the same method call. Consider the example of a read method in both the Person and Student classes. When we invoke p.read() where p is an instance of Person, the read method of Person will be called. However, if p is an instance of Student, the read method of Student will be invoked instead.

This is because the runtime environment dynamically determines which method to execute based on the actual type of the object, even though the variable is declared as the parent class type (e.g., Person). This flexibility is known as polymorphism, meaning "many forms," as it allows objects of different subclasses to respond differently to the same method call.

Additional Considerations

It's important to note that the specifics of inheritance and polymorphism vary across programming languages. For instance, inheritance in JavaScript functions differently compared to inheritance in Java.

Understanding the distinction between inheritance and polymorphism is essential for effectively designing and implementing object-oriented programs.

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