How do you implement inheritance and polymorphism in Python?

Question

Assisting AI · Accepted Answer

Inheritance in Python is achieved by defining a subclass that lists the parent class in parentheses. The subclass inherits attributes and methods from the parent and can override them or add new ones.

```python
class Animal:
    def speak(self):
        return "..."

class Dog(Animal):
    def speak(self):
        return "Woof!"
```

Polymorphism allows objects of different classes to be treated as instances of a common superclass. In Python, this is often achieved through method overriding and duck typing. The `Dog` class overrides `speak`, so calling `speak()` on any `Animal` reference will execute the appropriate implementation.

Key points:
- Use `super()` to call parent class methods.
- Polymorphism is implicit; you don't need explicit interfaces.
- It promotes code reuse and flexibility.

Complexity is O(1) for method lookup in typical cases, but Python’s dynamic dispatch may add a small overhead compared to static languages.

How do you implement inheritance and polymorphism in Python?

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