C++ Programming Tutorial

Inheritance and Polymorphism

Inheritance lets a derived class reuse and extend a base class. Virtual functions enable dynamic dispatch (polymorphism) so the correct method runs based on the actual type.

#include \n\nclass Base {\npublic:\n    virtual void speak() { std::cout << "Base"; }\n    virtual ~Base() = default;\n};\n\nclass Derived : public Base {\npublic:\n    void speak() override { std::cout << "Derived"; }\n};\n\nint main(){\n    Base* b = new Derived();\n    b->speak(); // prints "Derived"\n    delete b;\n}

Notes

• Mark base destructors `virtual` when deleting through base pointers.
• Use `override` in derived methods to catch signature mismatches.