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📚 Introduction to Python Programming
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1 Statements2 Expressions3 Objects4 Decisions5 Loops6 Functions7 Modules8 Strings9 Lists10 Dictionaries11 Classes12 Recursion13 Inheritance14 Files15 Data Science

Chapter 13: Inheritance

A fluffy adult sheep and a small lamb stand side-by-side in a vibrant green pasture, both looking directly at the camera with calm expressions.
Figure 13.1 credit: modification of work "Don't stare...only sheep dogs stare...", by Bernard Spragg. NZ/Flickr, Public Domain

Real-world entities are often described in relation to other entities. Ex: A finch is a type of bird. Similarly, classes, which represent types of real-world entities, can be related to each other.

Inheritance describes the relationship in which one class is a type of another class. Classes within inheritance relationships can inherit attributes and methods from other classes without needing to redefine everything. Thus, inheritance in object-oriented programming reduces redundancy and promotes modularity.

Adapted from Introduction to Python Programming by OpenStax (openstax.org), licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Changes were made. License: CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0.