Hierarchical inheritance in C++ language

Hierarchical inheritance in C++

In this tutorial, we will discuss the OOP concept of Hierarchical inheritance in C++ language.

Heirarchical inheritance is multiple classes inherited from a single class. There is one parent (super) class and many children(sub) classes. Hierarchical inheritance is supported in C++. In the example below, class B, class C and class D inherits the properties of class A. Class A acts as the parant class of class B, class C and class D.

inheritance

Inheritance

Example

class A //base class

{

…………………………

};

class B :access_specifier A //class B inherits from class A

{

………………………………….

};

class C :access_specifier A //class C inherits from class A

{

………………………………….

};

class D :access_specifier A //class C inherits from class A

{

………………………………….

};

As seen in the diagram above, a class can have more than one child class (sub classes) and two or more children classes can have one only one (same) parent class. Here, Class A acts as the parent for sub classes: class B, class C and class D. This is known as hierarchical inheritance.

You can try to understand using the following syntex

Program 1

Example

out put

Output

In the above program, there is only one base class named A. derived classes B, C and D inherit all properties from A.

Derived classes(B, C and D) have their own properties as well as base class properties

Explanation above program

#include <iostream> //header file
using namespace std;
class A //paranr class A
{ // Start of class A
public:
int k,l;// assign two variables for int
void values() // create function for class A
{
k=6;
l=5;
}
}; // end of classA
class B:public A
{ // Start of class B
public:
void add() // create function for class B
{
cout << “The sum of k,l is:”<<k+l<< endl;
}
};// end of class B

class C:public A
{ // Start of class C
public:
void sub()// create function for class C
{
cout << “The sub of k,l is:”<<k-l<< endl;
}
};// end of class C
class D:public A
{// Start of class
public:
void mul() // create function for class D
{
cout << “The mul of k,l is:”<<k*l<< endl;
}
};// end of class
int main()
{
B obj1; // create object for class B
C obj2;// create object for class C
D obj3;// create object for class D

obj1.values(); //call values function through obj1
obj1.add(); //call add function through obj1

obj2.values(); //call values function through obj2
obj2.sub();//call add function through obj2

obj3.values(); //call values function through obj3
obj3.mul();//call add function through obj3

return 0;

}