Inheritance vs Polymorphism: Difference and Comparison

These two seek to imitate real-world items and make it simpler for developers to write code encompassing the worldview in which they generate code.

Object-oriented coding has four fundamental ideas: inheritance, abstractions, polymorphism, and confinement. As previously said, each notion may be considered the foundation of any contemporary language.

Key Takeaways

1. Inheritance and Polymorphism are both concepts in object-oriented programming.
2. Inheritance is the ability of a class to inherit properties and methods from another class. At the same time, Polymorphism allows objects of different classes to be treated as if they belong to the same class.
3. Inheritance is a way to create a hierarchy of classes, while Polymorphism is a way to make code more flexible and adaptable.

Inheritance vs Polymorphism

Inheritance allows for code reuse and can help organize code into logical hierarchies. Polymorphism is the ability of objects of different classes to share common functionality through inheritance and interfaces. It can be achieved in two ways: compile-time and run-time.

Inheritance is a transmission under which a new category is generated that derives the characteristics of such an identifiable group. It promotes the notion of code reproducibility and shortens code complexity throughout object-oriented computing.

Single transmission, multi-level inheritance, multiple lineage, hybrid hereditary, and patriarchal inheritance are the common manifestations of inheritance.

Polymorphism is the ability to complete a job in numerous forms or methods. It is used to describe functions or techniques.

Polymorphism lets the entity choose the version of the operation to perform both at compilation and run time. Polymorphism is classified into two types: compile-time variability as well as run-time polymorphism.

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	Inheritance	Polymorphism
Basic	Fundamental Inheritance is the process of constructing a new category using an old class’s specifications.	Polymorphism is beneficial as a bridge between different forms.
Implementation	Inheritance is divided into different categories.	On function/methods, heterogeneity is used.
Use	To promote the notion of modularization in OOP and shorten code.	Allows an entity to choose which iteration of the operation to activate at compile and run time.
Forms	Single, multiple, multilevel inheritance, etc., are all possible.	Genetic variations can be either compiled as well as run-time.
Example	Because a ‘table’ is ‘hardwood,’ the category ‘table’ can possess the characteristic of the subclass ‘hardwood.’	The function ‘set colour’ in the category ‘desk’ can also be invoked at build and speed of operation.

What is Inheritance?

Inheritance has emerged as a major feature of OOP that supports scalability. Reusability might perhaps be characterized as the capability to construct a special class by recycling the characteristics of just an object database.

In inheritance, there seems to be a structural unit that the abstract classes inherit. Whenever a class borrows another class, every foundation class’s attributes become members of either the data structure.

The accessibility regular expression, in this case, specifies the method of reference to the component in the data structure for the derived class. Unless no access particular strategy is given, it is assumed to be private by choice.

If the abstract methods are stringent, the control centre is public by convention in C++. The subclass in Java borrows the other category while using the term extends.

A variant cannot visit properties of the base class marked as private. A prototype might, like in Java, retrieve the superclass’s confidential attributes, and Java provides a solution if a descendent needs to obtain or initialize those parts.

The subcategory can use the term “super” to refer to instances of its adjacent superclass. It can only reach constituents of the nearest superclass.

What is Polymorphism?

Polymorphism is defined as ‘one operation, numerous forms.’ It is accomplished at both the compile and event-driven levels.

Overloading is used to accomplish compile-time flexibility, whereas overriding is used to accomplish run-time genetic variability.

The polymorphism enables the artefact to choose “which version of the operation to execute when” at that as well as compile but also run time.

Overloading invariance refers to calling a mechanism in a class several times with various data types and arguments, although the method to be saturated should have had the same call-back mechanism.

For almost all of the period, the expanded algorithms are class generators. The overriding concept only applies to operations of classifications that correspond with the concept of lineage.

In C++, the technique to be overridden is tagged with the word “virtual” in the relational model and reproduced in the prototype.

Overloading necessitates writing the code or perhaps the class’s method many times with various parameters but the same instance variables.

It implies that the parameters supplied into the operation might vary, and the computed values supplied into the script at the run time determine which program variant is to be executed. On average, the most overloaded operation is the category function Object.

Main Differences Between Inheritance and Polymorphism

1. Inheritance empowers a latent variable to utilize the base class type’s components and methods. The class diagram doesn’t get to specify those members or methods. Polymorphism, however, allows an object to choose which version of a procedure to execute at both build and run time.
2. The classes support inheritance. Polymorphism, on the other end, is used on techniques and variables.
3. Single, multiple, multilevel, hierarchical, and hybrid testamentary are the many types of inheritance. Polymorphism, on the other extreme, is characterized as overloading and overriding.
4. Inheritance is establishing a class that inherits its features from an established object. On the other end, polymorphism is functionality that may be implemented in various ways.
5. Mostly in the case of inheritance, the category bike might derive from the class representing two-wheel vehicles, which may be a subdivision of automobiles. In polymorphism, the category bike can contain a method called set colour that changes the colour of the bike depending on the name of both the colour you’ve supplied.

References

1. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/1921607.1921611
2. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-322-91603-7_23

Last Updated : 11 June, 2023