Inheritance

There are two forms of inheritance in C++: type inheritance and implementation inheritance. In both forms of inheritance, a derived class can share or override behavior inherited from a base class. However, use type inheritance only when it is necessary for a derived class to inherit type information as well. The primary reason to inherit type information is to allow for polymorphism.

Express type inheritance by deriving a class from a public base class; express implementation inheritance by deriving a class from a private or protected base class. Strict guidelines for choosing the correct form of inheritance are described in this section.


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