Types of inheritance with examples

Types of inheritance with examples

Types of Inheritance in C++

1) Single inheritance
2) Multilevel inheritance
3) Multiple inheritance
4) Hierarchical inheritance
5) Hybrid inheritance

Single inheritance

In Single inheritance one class inherits one class exactly.
For example: Lets say we have class A and B

B inherits A

Example of Single inheritance:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class A {
public:
  A(){
     cout<<"Constructor of A class"<<endl;
  }
};
class B: public A {
public:
  B(){
     cout<<"Constructor of B class";
  }
};
int main() {
   //Creating object of class B
   B obj;
   return 0;
}

Output:

Constructor of A class
Constructor of B class

2)Multilevel Inheritance

In this type of inheritance one class inherits another child class.

C inherits B and B inherits A

Example of Multilevel inheritance:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class A {
public:
  A(){
     cout<<"Constructor of A class"<<endl;
  }
};
class B: public A {
public:
  B(){
     cout<<"Constructor of B class"<<endl;
  }
};
class C: public B {
public:
  C(){
     cout<<"Constructor of C class"<<endl;
  }
};
int main() {
  //Creating object of class C
  C obj;
  return 0;
}

Output:

Constructor of A class
Constructor of B class
Constructor of C class

Multiple Inheritance

In multiple inheritance, a class can inherit more than one class. This means that in this type of inheritance a single child class can have multiple parent classes.
For example:

C inherits A and B both

Example of Multiple Inheritance:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class A {
public:
  A(){
     cout<<"Constructor of A class"<<endl;
  }
};
class B {
public:
  B(){
     cout<<"Constructor of B class"<<endl;
  }
};
class C: public A, public B {
public:
  C(){
     cout<<"Constructor of C class"<<endl;
  }
};
int main() {
   //Creating object of class C
   C obj;
   return 0;
}

Constructor of A class
Constructor of B class
Constructor of C class

4)Hierarchical Inheritance

In this type of inheritance, one parent class has more than one child class. For example:

Class B and C inherits class A

Example of Hierarchical inheritance:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class A {
public:
  A(){
     cout<<"Constructor of A class"<<endl;
  }
};
class B: public A {
public:
  B(){ 
     cout<<"Constructor of B class"<<endl;
  }
};
class C: public A{
public:
  C(){
     cout<<"Constructor of C class"<<endl;
  }
};
int main() {
   //Creating object of class C
   C obj;
   return 0;
}

Output:

Constructor of A class
Constructor of C class

5) Hybrid Inheritance

Hybrid inheritance is a combination of more than one type of inheritance. For example, A child and parent class relationship that follows multiple and hierarchical inheritance both can be called hybrid inheritance.