For those who are already programming in C#, using Inheritance for class level reusability and Polymorphism for processing objects differntly depending on their class, become quite useful.
Inheritance
One of the key concepts of Object Oriented Programming is nothing but inheritance. By using the concept of inheritance, it is possible to create a new class from an existing one and add new features to it. Thus inheritance provides a mechanism for class level re usability. The new programming language C# also supports inheritance. The syntax of inheritance is very simple and straightforward.
class Base
{
}
class Derived : Base
{
}
The operator ‘:’is used to indicate that a class is inherited from another class. Remember that in C#, a derived class can’t be more accessible than it’s base class. That means that it is not possible to declare a derived class as public, if it inherits from a private class. For example the following code will generate a compile time error.
class Base
{
}
public class Derived : Base
{
}
In the above case the Base class is private. We try to inherit a public class from a private class.
Let us see a concrete example.
In this case Derived class inherits public members of the Base class x,y and Method(). The objects of the Derived class can access these inherited members along with its own member z.
// Inheritance
// Author: rajeshvs@msn.com
using System;
class Base
{
public int x = 10;
public int y = 20;
public void Method()
{
Console.WriteLine("Base Method");
}
}
class Derived : Base
{
public int z = 30;
}
class MyClient
{
public static void Main()
{
Derived d1 = new Derived();
Console.WriteLine("{0},{1},{2}",d1.x,d1.y,d1.z); // displays 10,20,30
d1.Method();// displays 'Base Method'
}
}
Inheritance & Access Modifiers
A derived class inherits every thing from the base class except constructors and destructors. The public members of the Base class becomes the public members of the Derived class also. Similarly the protected members of the base class become protected members of the derived class and internal member becomes internal members of the derived class. Even the private members of the base class are inherited to the derived class, even though derived class can’t access them.
Inheritance & Data Members
We know all base class data members are inherited to the derived, but their accessibility remains unchanged in the derived class. For example in the program given below
// Inheritance : datamebers
// Author: rajeshvs@msn.com
using System;
class Base
{
public int x = 10;
public int y = 20;
}
class Derived : Base
{
public int z = 30;
public void Sum()
{
int sum = x+y+z;
Console.WriteLine(sum);
}
}
class MyClient
{
public static void Main()
{
Derived d1 = new Derived();
d1.Sum();// displays '60'
}
}
Here class Derived have total three data members, two of them are inherited from the Base class.
In C#, even it is possible to declare a data member with the same name in the derived class as shown below. In this case, we are actually hiding a base class data member inside the Derived class. Remember that, still the Derived class can access the base class data member by using the keyword base.
// Inheritance : datameber hiding
// Author: rajeshvs@msn.com
using System;
class Base
{
public int x = 10;
public int y = 20;
}
class Derived : Base
{
public int x = 30;
public void Sum()
{
int sum = base.x+y+x;
Console.WriteLine(sum);
}
}
class MyClient
{
public static void Main()
{
Derived d1 = new Derived();
d1.Sum();// displays '60'
}
}
But when we compile the above program, the compiler will show a warning, since we try to hide a Base class data member inside the Derived class. By using the keyword new along with the data member declaration inside the Derived class, it is possible to suppress this compiler warning.
The keyword new tells the compiler that we are trying to explicitly hiding the Base class data member inside the Derived class. Remember that we are not changing the value of the Base class data member here. Instead we are just hiding or shadowing them inside the Derived class. However the Derived class can access the base class data member by using the base operator.
// Inheritance : datameber hiding with new
// Author: rajeshvs@msn.com
using System;
class Base
{
public int x = 10;
public int y = 20;
}
class Derived : Base
{
public new int x = 30;
public void Sum()
{
int sum = base.x+y+x;
Console.WriteLine(sum);
}
}
class MyClient
{
public static void Main()
{
Derived d1 = new Derived();
d1.Sum();// displays '60'
}
}
Inheritance & Member Functions
What ever we discussed for data members are valid for member functions also. A derived class member function can call the base class member function by using the base operator. It is possible to hide the implementation of a Base class member function inside a Derived class by using the new operator.
When we declare a method in the Derived class with exactly same name and signature of a Base class method, it is known as ‘method hiding’. But during the compilation time, the compiler will generate a warning. But during run-time the objects of the Derived class will always call the Derived class version of the method. By declaring the derived class method as new, it is possible to suppress the compiler warning.
// Inheritance : Method hiding without new operator
// Author: rajeshvs@msn.com
using System;
class Base
{
public void Method()
{
Console.WriteLine("Base Method");
}
}
class Derived : Base
{
public void Method()
{
Console.WriteLine("Derived Method");
}
}
class MyClient
{
public static void Main()
{
Derived d1 = new Derived();
d1.Method(); // displays 'Derived Method'
}
}
Uses of new and base operators are given in the following program.
// Inheritance : Method hiding without new operator
// Author: rajeshvs@msn.com
using System;
class Base
{
public void Method()
{
Console.WriteLine("Base Method");
}
}
class Derived : Base
{
public new void Method()
{
Console.WriteLine("Derived Method");
base.Method();
}
}
class MyClient
{
public static void Main()
{
Derived d1 = new Derived();
d1.Method(); // displays 'Derived Method' followed by 'Base Method'
}
}
Inheritance & Constructors
The constructors and destructors are not inherited to a Derived class from a Base class. However when we create an object of the Derived class, the derived class constructor implicitly call the Base class default constructor. The following program shows this.
// Inheritance : constructor
// Author: rajeshvs@msn.com
using System;
class Base
{
public Base()
{
Console.WriteLine("Base class default constructor");
}
}
class Derived : Base
{
}
class MyClient
{
public static void Main()
{
Derived d1 =new Derived();// Displays 'Base class default constructor'
}
}
Remember that the Derived class constructor can call only the default constructor of Base class explicitly. But they can call any Base class constructor explicitly by using the keyword base.
// Inheritance : constructor chaining
// Author: rajeshvs@msn.com
using System;
class Base
{
public Base()
{
Console.WriteLine("Base constructor1");
}
public Base(int x)
{
Console.WriteLine("Base constructor2");
}
}
class Derived : Base
{
public Derived() : base(10)// implicitly call the Base(int x)
{
Console.WriteLine("Derived constructor");
}
}
class MyClient
{
public static void Main()
{
// Displays 'Base constructor2 followed by 'Derived Constructor''
Derived d1 = new Derived();
}
}
Note that by using base() the constructors can be chained in an inheritance hierarchy.
Polymorphism & Virtual Methods
A virtual method in C# specifies an implementation of a method that can be polymorphicaly overridden derived method. A non-virtual method can’t be polymorphically override in a Derived class.
A virtual method can be declared by using the keyword virtual as follows.
class Base
{
public virtual void Method()
{
}
}
When we declare a virtual method, it must contain a method body. Other wise the compiler will generate an error. Remember that, since virtual methods are used for achieving polymorphism and since polymorphism works only with objects, it not possible to declare a static method as virtual in C#. Similarly the private methods are also not possible to declare virtual, since they can’t override inside a derived class.
In C#, it is not necessary to override a Base class virtual method inside a Derived class.
The following program will work absolutely correct.
// Inheritance : Virtual methods
// Author: rajeshvs@msn.com
using System;
class Base
{
public virtual void Method()
{
Console.WriteLine("Base method");
}
}
class Derived : Base
{
}
class MyClient
{
public static void Main()
{
Derived d1 = new Derived();
d1.Method(); // Displays 'Base Method'
}
}
Or even it is possible to override a virtual method non-polymorphically inside a Derived class as shown below.
// Inheritance : Virtual methods
// Author: rajeshvs@msn.com
using System;
class Base
{
public virtual void Method()
{
Console.WriteLine("Base method");
}
}
class Derived : Base
{
public virtual void Method()
{
Console.WriteLine("Derived method");
}
}
class MyClient
{
public static void Main()
{
Derived d1 = new Derived();
d1.Method(); // Displays 'Derived Method'
}
}
Even it is possible to omit the keyword virtual from the Derived class method or it is possible to declare the Derived class method as new.
When we want to override a virtual method polymorphically inside a Derived class, we have to use the keyword override along with the method declaration. The example is shown below.
In C#, a Base class reference can hold an object of the Derived class and when it invokes the methods, it will invoke always the Derived class methods, if you already override that method inside the Derived class by using the override keyword. Also the Base class method must declare using the keyword virtual. This is what is known as Polymorphism in C#.
// Inheritance : Virtual methods/Polymorphism
// Author: rajeshvs@msn.com
using System;
class Base
{
public virtual void Method()
{
Console.WriteLine("Base method");
}
}
class Derived : Base
{
public override void Method()
{
Console.WriteLine("Derived method");
}
}
class MyClient
{
public static void Main()
{
Base b1 = new Derived();
b1.Method(); // Displays 'Base Method'
}
}
As with a virtual method, we must include a method body with an override method; other wise the compiler will generate an error during compilation.
Remember that in C#, we can use the override keyword with only virtual method, when overriding inside a Derived class. An overridden declaration must be identical in every way to the virtual method, it overrides. They must have the same access level; the same return type, the same name and same method signature.
The overridden methods are implicitly virtual in nature and hence they can override in subsequent Derived classes. As like virtual methods, override methods can’t be declared as static or private.
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