Types of inheritance

📘 What is Inheritance?

Inheritance is a mechanism where a child class (derived class) inherits properties and behaviors from a parent class (base class).

C++ supports five types of inheritance:

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🧩 1. Single Inheritance

✅ Description:

One base class and one derived class.

🔧 Syntax:

class A { /* base class */ };
class B : public A { /* derived class */ };

🧪 Example:

class Animal {
public:
    void eat() {
        cout << "Eating..." << endl;
    }
};

class Dog : public Animal {
public:
    void bark() {
        cout << "Barking..." << endl;
    }
};

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🧩 2. Multiple Inheritance

✅ Description:

One derived class inherits from more than one base class.

🔧 Syntax:

class A { };
class B { };
class C : public A, public B { };

🧪 Example:

class Father {
public:
    void home() {
        cout << "Owns a home" << endl;
    }
};

class Mother {
public:
    void car() {
        cout << "Owns a car" << endl;
    }
};

class Child : public Father, public Mother {
public:
    void bike() {
        cout << "Owns a bike" << endl;
    }
};

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🧩 3. Multilevel Inheritance

✅ Description:

A class inherits from a derived class, forming a chain.

🔧 Syntax:

class A { };
class B : public A { };
class C : public B { };

🧪 Example:

class Grandparent {
public:
    void legacy() {
        cout << "Family legacy" << endl;
    }
};

class Parent : public Grandparent {
public:
    void guidance() {
        cout << "Parental guidance" << endl;
    }
};

class Child : public Parent {
public:
    void study() {
        cout << "Child studies" << endl;
    }
};

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🧩 4. Hierarchical Inheritance

✅ Description:

Multiple classes inherit from one base class.

🔧 Syntax:

class A { };
class B : public A { };
class C : public A { };

🧪 Example:

class Teacher {
public:
    void teach() {
        cout << "Teaching..." << endl;
    }
};

class MathTeacher : public Teacher {
public:
    void teachMath() {
        cout << "Teaching Math" << endl;
    }
};

class ScienceTeacher : public Teacher {
public:
    void teachScience() {
        cout << "Teaching Science" << endl;
    }
};

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🧩 5. Hybrid Inheritance

✅ Description:

Combination of two or more types of inheritance.

🔧 Example:

This combines multiple and multilevel inheritance.

class A {
public:
    void displayA() {
        cout << "Class A" << endl;
    }
};

class B : public A {
public:
    void displayB() {
        cout << "Class B" << endl;
    }
};

class C {
public:
    void displayC() {
        cout << "Class C" << endl;
    }
};

class D : public B, public C {
public:
    void displayD() {
        cout << "Class D" << endl;
    }
};

📝 Note: Hybrid inheritance can cause the Diamond Problem, which can be solved using virtual inheritance.

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📊 Comparison Table:

Type	Description	Example Classes
Single	One base, one derived	A → B
Multiple	One derived from many bases	A, B → C
Multilevel	A → B → C (Chain of inheritance)	A → B → C
Hierarchical	One base, many derived	A → B, C
Hybrid	Mixture of two or more types	A → B & C → D

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📌 Summary:

• Inheritance helps in code reuse and organizing programs.
• C++ supports 5 types: Single, Multiple, Multilevel, Hierarchical, and Hybrid.
• Care should be taken with Multiple and Hybrid inheritance to avoid ambiguity.