What is inheritance

Inheritance is a fundamental concept in object-oriented programming that allows a new class to inherit properties and methods from an existing class. This promotes code reusability and establishes a hierarchical relationship between classes.

For example, if we have a base class called Animal with some common properties and methods, we can create subclasses like Dog and Cat that inherit from Animal. This way, both Dog and Cat can utilize the common features defined in Animal while having their specific behaviors as well.

<?php class Animal { public function speak() { return "Animal speaks"; } } class Dog extends Animal { public function bark() { return "Woof!"; } } class Cat extends Animal { public function meow() { return "Meow!"; } } $dog = new Dog(); echo $dog->speak(); // Outputs: Animal speaks echo $dog->bark(); // Outputs: Woof! $cat = new Cat(); echo $cat->speak(); // Outputs: Animal speaks echo $cat->meow(); // Outputs: Meow! ?>

Inheritance Object-Oriented Programming Class Inheritance Code Reusability PHP