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🏗️ C# Inheritance – Reuse and Extend Class Functionality

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🧲 Introduction – Why Learn Inheritance in C#?

Inheritance is a fundamental concept of object-oriented programming in C#. It allows developers to build new classes based on existing ones, promoting code reuse, logical hierarchy, and extensibility. It’s the cornerstone of scalable and maintainable applications, especially in large enterprise systems.

🎯 In this guide, you’ll learn:

• What inheritance is and why it matters
• How to define base and derived classes
• How method overriding works in C#
• The use of base and virtual/override keywords
• Real-world examples and best practices

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🔍 Core Concept – What Is Inheritance in C#?

Inheritance allows one class (child/derived class) to inherit the fields, properties, and methods of another class (parent/base class). The derived class can also extend or override the behavior of the base class.

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🏗️ Syntax:

class Animal  // Base class
{
    public void Speak()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Animal speaks.");
    }
}

class Dog : Animal  // Derived class
{
    public void Bark()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Dog barks.");
    }
}

📘 Dog inherits from Animal using the : syntax.

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💻 Code Example – Using Inherited Methods

Dog myDog = new Dog();
myDog.Speak();  // Inherited method
myDog.Bark();   // Child class method

📥 Output:

Animal speaks.  
Dog barks.

🧵 Explanation:

• Dog doesn’t declare Speak() but can access it via inheritance from Animal.

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🔄 Method Overriding with virtual and override

class Animal
{
    public virtual void MakeSound()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Animal makes sound.");
    }
}

class Cat : Animal
{
    public override void MakeSound()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Cat meows.");
    }
}

📘 Use Case: Customize behavior in subclasses while preserving method signatures.

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🧠 Using base Keyword

class Bird : Animal
{
    public override void MakeSound()
    {
        base.MakeSound();  // Call base version
        Console.WriteLine("Bird chirps.");
    }
}

📘 Use Case: Combine base and overridden logic in the child class.

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🧬 Inheritance Types in C#

Type	Description	Supported in C#?
Single Inheritance	One class inherits from one base class	✅ Yes
Multiple Inheritance	Inherit from multiple base classes	❌ No (use interfaces instead)
Multilevel Inheritance	Class inherits from a derived class	✅ Yes
Hierarchical Inheritance	Multiple classes inherit from one base	✅ Yes

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💡 Best Practices & Tips

💡 Tip: Use inheritance when classes share common behavior or attributes.

⚠️ Pitfall: Avoid deep inheritance trees—they reduce flexibility and complicate debugging.

📘 Best Practice: Favor composition over inheritance for behavior injection when appropriate.

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🛠️ Real-World Use Cases

• 🧾 Business object hierarchies (e.g., Employee → Manager)
• 🎮 Game object systems (GameObject → Player → Enemy)
• 📂 File system representations (File → TextFile → LogFile)
• 📋 UI control inheritance (Control → Button, Control → Label)

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📌 Summary – Recap & Next Steps

🧵 Key Takeaways:

• Inheritance promotes code reuse and logical class structure.
• Use virtual, override, and base for behavior customization.
• Keep class hierarchies simple and meaningful.

⚙️ Real-world relevance: Core to .NET class libraries, OOP design, and UI frameworks like WinForms, WPF, and ASP.NET.

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❓ FAQ Section

❓ Can a class inherit multiple classes in C#?
✅ ❌ No. C# supports single inheritance. Use interfaces for multiple behavior inheritance.

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❓ What’s the difference between override and new?
✅ override replaces a base method, while new hides it (not recommended unless necessary).

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❓ Can a derived class override a non-virtual method?
✅ ❌ No. Only methods marked as virtual, abstract, or override can be overridden.

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❓ What is the role of the base keyword?
✅ It allows access to members of the base class, including overridden methods or constructors.

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❓ Is inheritance the same as interface implementation?
✅ No. Inheritance is class-to-class; interfaces define contracts, not implementations.

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Next topic: 🏗️ C# Polymorphism?

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