Mastering Multiple Inheritance and MRO in Python: A Practical Guide

Unraveling the Complexities of Inheritance Hierarchies

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Multiple inheritance is a powerful feature in Python that allows a class to inherit attributes and methods from multiple parent classes. However, this flexibility can sometimes lead to ambiguity and complexity, especially when dealing with inheritance hierarchies.

This is where the Method Resolution Order (MRO) comes into play, providing a systematic approach to resolving attribute and method lookups in Python’s class hierarchy.

Understanding Multiple Inheritance

In Python, a class can inherit from one or more parent classes. When a class inherits from multiple parents, it inherits the attributes and methods of all its parent classes.

This can be a powerful tool for code reuse and modularization, but it can also lead to conflicts and ambiguities if multiple parent classes define the same attribute or method. Here’s a simple example of multiple inheritance:

class A:
    def greet(self):
        print("Hello from A")

class B:
    def greet(self):
        print("Hello from B")

class C(A, B):
    pass

c = C()
c.greet()  # Output: Hello from A