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C# – Inheritance

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C# - Inheritance

C# Inheritance one of the most important concepts in object-oriented programming is inheritance. Inheritance allows us to define a class in terms of another class, which makes it easier to create and maintain an application. This also provides an opportunity to reuse the code functionality and speeds up implementation time.

When creating a class, instead of writing completely new data members and member functions, the programmer can designate that the new class should inherit the members of an existing class.

The idea of inheritance implements theĀ IS-AĀ relationship. For example, mammalĀ IS-AĀ animal, dogĀ IS-AĀ mammal hence dogĀ IS-AĀ animal as well, and so on.

Base and Derived Classes C# Inheritance

The syntax used in C# for creating derived classes is as follows āˆ’

<acess-specifier> class <base_class> {
   ...
}

class <derived_class> : <base_class> {
   ...
}

Consider a base class Shape and its derived class Rectangle āˆ’

using System;

namespace InheritanceApplication {
   class Shape {
      public void setWidth(int w) {
         width = w;
      }
      public void setHeight(int h) {
         height = h;
      }
      protected int width;
      protected int height;
   }

   // Derived class
   class Rectangle: Shape {
      public int getArea() { 
         return (width * height); 
      }
   }
   class RectangleTester {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         Rectangle Rect = new Rectangle();

         Rect.setWidth(5);
         Rect.setHeight(7);

         // Print the area of the object.
         Console.WriteLine("Total area: {0}",  Rect.getArea());
         Console.ReadKey();
      }
   }
}

The following result āˆ’

Total area: 35

Initializing Base Class

The derived class inherits the base class member variables and member methods. Therefore the superclass object should be created before the subclass is created. You can give instructions for superclass initialization in the member initialization list.

The following program demonstrates this āˆ’

using System;

namespace RectangleApplication {
   class Rectangle {
      
      //member variables
      protected double length;
      protected double width;
      
      public Rectangle(double l, double w) {
         length = l;
         width = w;
      }
      public double GetArea() {
         return length * width;
      }
      public void Display() {
         Console.WriteLine("Length: {0}", length);
         Console.WriteLine("Width: {0}", width);
         Console.WriteLine("Area: {0}", GetArea());
      }
   }//end class Rectangle  
   class Tabletop : Rectangle {
      private double cost;
      public Tabletop(double l, double w) : base(l, w) { }
      
      public double GetCost() {
         double cost;
         cost = GetArea() * 70;
         return cost;
      }
      public void Display() {
         base.Display();
         Console.WriteLine("Cost: {0}", GetCost());
      }
   }
   class ExecuteRectangle {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         Tabletop t = new Tabletop(4.5, 7.5);
         t.Display();
         Console.ReadLine();
      }
   }
}

The following result āˆ’

Length: 4.5
Width: 7.5
Area: 33.75
Cost: 2362.5

Multiple Inheritance in C#

C# does not support multiple inheritances. However, you can use interfaces to implement multiple inheritances. The following program demonstrates this āˆ’

using System;

namespace InheritanceApplication {
   class Shape {
      public void setWidth(int w) {
         width = w;
      }
      public void setHeight(int h) {
         height = h;
      }
      protected int width;
      protected int height;
   }

   // Base class PaintCost
   public interface PaintCost {
      int getCost(int area);
   }
   
   // Derived class
   class Rectangle : Shape, PaintCost {
      public int getArea() {
         return (width * height);
      }
      public int getCost(int area) {
         return area * 70;
      }
   }
   class RectangleTester {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         Rectangle Rect = new Rectangle();
         int area;
         
         Rect.setWidth(5);
         Rect.setHeight(7);
         area = Rect.getArea();
         
         // Print the area of the object.
         Console.WriteLine("Total area: {0}",  Rect.getArea());
         Console.WriteLine("Total paint cost: ${0}" , Rect.getCost(area));
         Console.ReadKey();
      }
   }
}

The following result āˆ’

Total area: 35
Total paint cost: $2450

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