The capability of a class to derive properties and characteristics from another class is called Inheritance. Inheritance is one of the most important feature of Object Oriented Programming.
Sub Class: The class that inherits properties from another class is called Sub class or Derived Class.
Super Class: The class whose properties are inherited by sub class is called Base Class or Super class.
Types of Inheritance in C++
1. Single Inheritance: In single inheritance, a class is allowed to inherit from only one class. i.e. one sub class is inherited by one base class only.
Syntax:
class subclass_name : access_mode base_class
{
// body of subclass
};
2. Multiple Inheritance: Multiple Inheritance is a feature of C++ where a class can inherit from more than one classes. i.e one sub class is inherited from more than one base classes.
Syntax: class subclass_name : access_mode base_class1, access_mode base_class2, ....{
// body of subclass
};
3. Multilevel Inheritance: In this type of inheritance, a derived class is created from another derived class.
4. Hierarchical Inheritance: In this type of inheritance, more than one sub class is inherited from a single base class. i.e. more than one derived class is created from a single base class.
5. Hybrid (Virtual) Inheritance: Hybrid Inheritance is implemented by combining more than one type of inheritance. For example: Combining Hierarchical inheritance and Multiple Inheritance.
Below image shows the combination of hierarchical and multiple inheritance:
