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In the world of object-oriented programming (OOP), inheritance and polymorphism are two fundamental concepts that enable code reuse and flexibility. Method overriding, a key aspect of polymorphism, allows subclasses to provide their own implementation of a method that is already defined in their superclass.
This powerful feature not only promotes code reusability but also facilitates the creation of more specialized and customized behaviors within a class hierarchy.
Understanding Method Overriding
Method overriding occurs when a subclass defines a method with the same name, parameters, and return type as a method in its superclass. When an instance of the subclass calls this method, the overridden version in the subclass is executed instead of the superclass’s implementation. Here’s a simple example to illustrate method overriding:
class Animal:
def make_sound(self):
print("The animal makes a sound.")
class Dog(Animal):
def make_sound(self):
print("The dog barks.")
# Create instances
animal = Animal()
dog = Dog()
# Call the make_sound method
animal.make_sound() # Output…