Inheritance
What is Inheritance?
Inheritance is a feature in object-oriented programming that allows a class (child or
derived class) to inherit methods, properties, and other characteristics from another
class (parent or base class).
This promotes code reuse and establishes a hierarchical relationship between classes.
How is it used?
A parent class defines common functionality.
A child class extends the parent class and can override or add new functionality.
Design a system for employees in a company. The system should have a base class Employee
with common attributes like name and salary. There are specific types of employees:
1. Full-time employees, who have an annual bonus.
2. Part-time employees, who are paid hourly.
Coding
using System;
// Base class Employee
class Employee
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public double BaseSalary { get; set; }
public Employee(string name, double baseSalary)
{
Name = name;
BaseSalary = baseSalary;
}
// Method to display employee details
public virtual void DisplayDetails()
{
Console.WriteLine("Employee Name: " + Name);
Console.WriteLine("Base Salary: $" + BaseSalary);
}
// Virtual method to calculate total pay
public virtual double CalculateTotalPay()
{
return BaseSalary;
}
}
// Derived class for Full-Time Employees
class FullTimeEmployee : Employee
{
public double AnnualBonus { get; set; }
public FullTimeEmployee(string name, double baseSalary, double annualBonus)
: base(name, baseSalary)
{
AnnualBonus = annualBonus;
}
// Overriding CalculateTotalPay method
public override double CalculateTotalPay()
{
return BaseSalary + AnnualBonus;
}
// Adding additional details specific to Full-Time Employees
public override void DisplayDetails()
{
base.DisplayDetails();
Console.WriteLine("Annual Bonus: $" + AnnualBonus);
Console.WriteLine("Total Pay: $" + CalculateTotalPay());
}
}
// Derived class for Part-Time Employees
class PartTimeEmployee : Employee
{
public int HoursWorked { get; set; }
public double HourlyRate { get; set; }
public PartTimeEmployee(string name, double baseSalary, int hoursWorked, double
hourlyRate)
: base(name, baseSalary)
{
HoursWorked = hoursWorked;
HourlyRate = hourlyRate;
}
// Overriding CalculateTotalPay method
public override double CalculateTotalPay()
{
return BaseSalary + (HoursWorked * HourlyRate);
}
// Adding additional details specific to Part-Time Employees
public override void DisplayDetails()
{
base.DisplayDetails();
Console.WriteLine("Hours Worked: " + HoursWorked);
Console.WriteLine("Hourly Rate: $" + HourlyRate);
Console.WriteLine("Total Pay: $" + CalculateTotalPay());
}
}
// Main program to demonstrate inheritance
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
// Create a Full-Time Employee
FullTimeEmployee fullTimeEmp = new FullTimeEmployee("Alice", 50000, 10000);
Console.WriteLine("Full-Time Employee Details:");
fullTimeEmp.DisplayDetails();
Console.WriteLine();
// Create a Part-Time Employee
PartTimeEmployee partTimeEmp = new PartTimeEmployee("Bob", 1000, 20, 25);
Console.WriteLine("Part-Time Employee Details:");
partTimeEmp.DisplayDetails();
}
}
Output
Full-Time Employee Details:
Employee Name: Alice
Base Salary: $50000
Annual Bonus: $10000
Total Pay: $60000
Part-Time Employee Details:
Employee Name: Bob
Base Salary: $1000
Hours Worked: 20
Hourly Rate: $25
Total Pay: $1500
Virtual keyword
The virtual keyword in C# allows a method in a base class to be overridden in derived
classes. This means the derived class can provide its own implementation of the method,
customizing its behavior while still maintaining the same method signature.
