--- jupyter: jupytext: text_representation: extension: .md format_name: markdown format_version: '1.3' jupytext_version: 1.13.6 kernelspec: display_name: Python 3 language: python name: python3 --- .. meta:: :description: Topic: Class inheritance, Difficulty: Easy, Category: Section :keywords: inherit, object oriented, overwrite, sub class, issubclass # Inheritance A final topic for us to discuss in this introduction to object oriented programming is the concept of inheritance. Working with inheritance provides powerful abstractions and elegant code re-use - it permits a class to inherit and build off of the attributes of another class. Let's immediately consider an example of inheritance in action. Let's revisit the `Rectangle` class that we wrote in the introduction to this module. ```python class Rectangle: """ A class of Python object that describes the properties of a rectangle""" def __init__(self, width, height, center=(0, 0)): self.width = width self.height = height self.center = center def __repr__(self): return "Rectangle(width={w}, height={h}, center={c})".format(h=self.height, w=self.width, c=self.center) def compute_area(self): return self.width * self.height ``` Now suppose that we also want to write a `Square` class, such that only a single side length need be specified to determine its size. Recognize that a square is a special type of rectangle - one whose width and height are equal. In light of this, we ought to leverage the code that we already wrote for `Rectangle`. We can do this by defining a `Square` class that is a *subclass* of `Rectangle`. This means that `Square` will *inherit* all of the attributes of `Rectangle`, including its methods. Let's proceed with writing this subclass: ```python # Creating Square, a subclass of Rectangle class Square(Rectangle): def __init__(self, side, center=(0, 0)): # equivalent to `Rectangle.__init__(self, side, side, center)` super().__init__(side, side, center) ``` Specifying `class Square(Rectangle)` signals that `Square` is a subclass of `Rectangle` and thus it will have inherited the attributes of `Rectangle`. Next, see that we overwrote the `__init__` method that `Square` inherited; instead of accepting a height and a width, `Square` should by specified by a single side length. Within this new `__init__` method, we pass in that single side length as both the width and height to `Rectangle.__init__`. `super` always refers to the "super class" or "parent class" of a given class, thus `super` is `Rectangle` here. Having defined our subclass, we can leverage the other methods of `Rectangle` as-is. Let's see `Square` in action: ```python # create a square of side-length 2 >>> my_square = Square(2) # using the inherited `compute_area` method >>> my_square.compute_area() 4 # a square is a rectangle with equal height/width >>> my_square Rectangle(width=2, height=2, center=(0.0, 0.0)) >>> my_square.width == my_square.height True ``` The built-in `issubclass` function allows us to verify the relationship between `Square` and `Rectangle`. ```python # `Square` and `Rectangle` are distinct classes >>> Square is not Rectangle True # `Square` is a subclass of `Rectangle` >>> issubclass(Square, Rectangle) True # `my_square is an both an instance of `Square` and `Rectangle` >>> isinstance(my_square, Square) True >>> isinstance(my_square, Rectangle) True ``` ## Summary of Inheritance In general, if you have a class `A`, then you can define a subclass of `A` via: ```python class A: attr = 0 def method(self): return 0 # `B` is a subclass of `A` class B(A): # inherits `attr` and `method` b_attr = -2 # class attribute distinct to `B` def method(self): # overwrites inherited `method` return -1 ``` `B` will have inherited all of the attributes and methods of `A`. Defining attributes and methods within the definition of `B` will overwrite those that already exist in `A`. `B` is also free to have its own distinct attributes and methods be defined, irrespective of `A`. ```python >>> issubclass(B, A) True >>> A.attr 0 >>> A().method() 0 >>> B.attr 0 >>> B().method() -1 >>> B.b_attr -2 ``` We have only scratched the surface of the topic of class inheritance. That being said, this section does convey the essential functionality and utility of class inheritance. ## Links to Official Documentation - [Official Tutorial: Inheritance](https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/classes.html#inheritance)