🔧 Advanced Inheritance

Last Updated: 06 Sept 2025

super() function.

The super() function is used to access the parent class of a child class.It call The parent class constructor.

class Animal:
    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name

class Dog(Animal):
    def __init__(self, name, breed):
        # Animal.__init__(self, name) # Call parent constructor same as below
        super().__init__(name)   # Call parent constructor
        self.breed = breed

    def details(self):
        print(f"{self.name} is a {self.breed}")

d = Dog("Tommy", "Labrador")
d.details()

Public Members in Inheritance

class Parent:
    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name   # public

    def display(self):
        print("Parent name:", self.name)

class Child(Parent):
    def show(self):
        print("Child accessing:", self.name)  # ✅ allowed (public)

c = Child("Amit")
c.display()   # Parent name: Amit
c.show()      # Child accessing: Amit
print(c.name) # ✅ Directly accessible

👉 Public members are freely inherited & used anywhere.

Protected Members in Inheritance

class Parent:
    def __init__(self, age):
        self._age = age   # protected

class Child(Parent):
    def show(self):
        print("Child accessing protected age:", self._age)

c = Child(22)
c.show()         # ✅ allowed inside subclass
print(c._age)    # ⚠️ Works, but convention says "internal use only"

👉 Protected members cannot be directly accessed outside the class.(But can still be accessed outside, not recommended).

Private Members in Inheritance

class Parent:
    def __init__(self, roll):
        self.__roll = roll   # private

    def show_roll(self):
        print("Parent Roll:", self.__roll)

class Child(Parent):
    def try_access(self):
        # print(self.__roll)  ❌ ERROR (not accessible)
        print("Access via parent method:")
        self.show_roll()     # ✅ Allowed using parent's method

c = Child(101)
c.try_access()
# print(c.__roll)   ❌ Error
print(c._Parent__roll)  # ✅ Name mangling hack (not recommended)

👉Private members are not directly inherited.Child class cannot access them directly.

💡 Quick Practice

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