C inheritance explained
Jul 09, 2025 am 01:30 AM
Inheritance is a core feature of object-oriented programming in C, allowing the creation of a new class (subclass) to reuse member variables and functions of existing classes (parent classes). 1. The inheritance methods include public, private and protection: public inheritance keeps the access level of base class members unchanged; protected inheritance turns base class members into protected; private inheritance turns base class members into private. 2. Access control affects the inheritance effect. The private members of the base class will not be inherited and the subclass cannot be accessed. 3. The main uses of inheritance include code reuse, support for polymorphism and interface abstraction. For example, defining interface classes through pure virtual functions, forcing subclasses to implement specific methods, thereby achieving the function of uniformly processing objects of different subclasses.
C inheritance is not difficult to understand, it is to allow one class (subclass) to reuse member variables and functions of another class (parent class). The key is to figure out the inheritance method, access permissions and actual usage scenarios.
What is inheritance?
In C, inheritance is one of the core features of object-oriented programming. It allows you to create a new class (derived class or subclass) that "inherit" data and methods from existing classes (base class or parent class).
For example, you can write an Animal class with eat() and sleep() methods in it, and then let Dog class inherit it, so that Dog will automatically have these functions.
Simply put: inheritance = reuse existing class functions to avoid repeated creation of wheels.
The difference between public ownership, private ownership and protection inheritance
When inheriting, you need to specify the inheritance method. The three common types are:
- public inheritance : The most commonly used method is that the public members of the base class are still public in the derived class.
- protected inheritance : both public and protected members of the base class become protected.
- private inheritance : base class members become private in derived classes.
For example:
class Base {
public:
void foo() {}
};
class Derived : private Base {}; In this example, Derived private inherits Base , so Derived d; d.foo(); cannot be called directly from the outside because foo() becomes a private member in Derived .
suggestion:
-
publicinheritance is preferred in the beginner stage, and the logic is clear. - If you just want to "reuse the implementation" and don't want to expose the interface, you can use
privateinheritance, but this situation is less common.
The relationship between access control and inheritance
In addition to inheritance methods, you should also pay attention to the access modifiers of the base class members themselves:
| Base class members | Public inheritance | protected inheritance | Private inheritance |
|---|---|---|---|
| public | public | protected | Private |
| protected | protected | protected | Private |
| Private | Not accessible | Not accessible | Not accessible |
One thing to remember: private members will not be inherited and subclasses cannot be accessed.
What are the actual uses of inheritance?
Many people still don’t understand “why do we need to use inheritance” after learning grammar.
Here are a few common uses:
- Code reuse : Put public logic in the base class and share multiple subclasses.
- Polymorphic support : combines virtual functions to achieve runtime dynamic binding, which is the basis for designing plug-in systems, graphical interfaces and other structures.
- Interface abstraction : Define interface classes through pure virtual functions and force subclasses to implement certain methods.
Let's give a simple example:
class Shape {
public:
virtual double area() const = 0; // Pure virtual function};
class Circle : public Shape {
public:
double area() const override { return radius * radius * 3.14; }
private:
double radius;
}; In this way, you can handle objects of different shapes uniformly, such as putting them in a vector<shape></shape> and calling their respective area() .
Basically that's it. The key to understanding inheritance is not to remember the grammatical details, but to know when to use it and how to use it reasonably. At first, I might feel a little confused, but I can get started by writing a few more small examples.
The above is the detailed content of C inheritance explained. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!
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