What is inheritance In C

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Inheritance is a fundamental concept in object-oriented programming that allows you to create a new class (the derived class or subclass) based on an existing class (the base class or superclass). In C, which is a procedural programming language, inheritance is not directly supported as it is in object-oriented languages like C++. However, you can achieve a form of code reuse and modularity through other mechanisms, such as struct composition and function pointers.

Here’s how you can emulate some aspects of inheritance in C:

  1. Struct Composition: In C, you can create a struct that includes another struct as one of its members. This approach is similar to subclassing in object-oriented programming. The inner struct represents the base class, and the outer struct is the derived class. You can access the base class’s members through the inner struct within the derived class. 
    // Base class (analogous to a C++ class)
struct Base {
    int baseData;
};

// Derived class (analogous to a C++ class inheriting from Base)
struct Derived {
    struct Base base;
    int derivedData;
};

     

  2. Function Pointers: To achieve polymorphism and method overriding (like virtual functions in C++), you can use function pointers. In the derived struct, you can define function pointers that point to functions in the base struct. This allows you to override and provide new implementations for base class methods. 
    // Base class (analogous to a C++ class)
struct Base {
    int baseData;
    void (*baseMethod)(struct Base* self);
};

// Derived class (analogous to a C++ class inheriting from Base)
struct Derived {
    struct Base base;
    int derivedData;
    void (*derivedMethod)(struct Derived* self);
};

void baseMethod(struct Base* self) {
    // Base class implementation
}

void derivedMethod(struct Derived* self) {
    // Derived class implementation
}

     

By using struct composition and function pointers, you can achieve a form of inheritance and polymorphism in C. While this is not as convenient or robust as the inheritance mechanism provided by object-oriented languages like C++, it can help you organize and reuse code in a modular way. It’s important to document and follow conventions for struct composition and method overriding to ensure code clarity and maintainability.

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