What is the concept of base and derive class?
The concept of base and derived classes is a fundamental part of object-oriented programming. It's all about creating a relationship between classes to help share and organize code.
Base Class (Super Class or Parent Class):
A base class is like a foundation. It's a class that holds certain properties and methods. Other classes can be built on top of this base class, inheriting its properties and methods. It's like having a toolbox with useful tools that other toolboxes can borrow. The base class provides a blueprint for what the derived classes will look like.
Derived Class (Sub Class or Child Class):
A derived class is built upon the foundation of a base class. It takes all the things (properties and methods) from the base class and can also add its own unique things. It's like having a new toolbox that not only uses the tools from the old toolbox but also adds some special tools of its own. The derived class inherits the traits of the base class and can customize and extend them.
Think of it like a family tree. The base class is like the grandparent, passing down certain traits to the parent class, and then the parent class can pass those traits along to the child class.
In the below example 'Animal' is the base class and 'Sheep' is the derive class, the derived class is also called the child class.:
public class Animal
{
}
public class Sheep: Animal
{
}
This concept helps with code reusability, organization, and making your programs more efficient. Instead of rewriting the same code in multiple places, you can create a base class with common features and have different derived classes build upon that foundation.