Inheritance is a feature of object-oriented programming that allows a class to inherit properties and methods from another class. The class that is being inherited from is called the parent class or base class, and the class that is inheriting is called the child class or derived class.
Inheritance allows the child class to reuse code from the parent class, which promotes code reusability and reduces redundancy. The child class can inherit all the public and protected members of the parent class, and it can add its own unique members and methods as well.
Polymorphism is another feature of object-oriented programming that allows objects of different classes to be treated as objects of a common parent class. This means that an object of the child class can be used wherever an object of the parent class is expected.
Polymorphism allows for code that is more flexible and adaptable, as it can work with objects of different types without needing to know the specific type of the object at runtime. This can be particularly useful when working with collections of objects, as it allows for easy iteration and manipulation of the objects regardless of their specific type.
Inheritance and polymorphism are closely related concepts in object-oriented programming. Inheritance allows for code reuse and the creation of hierarchies of related classes, while polymorphism allows for objects of different classes to be treated as objects of a common parent class. Together, they enable powerful and flexible code design and implementation.