What is inheritance definition?

Inheritance is a mechanism in object-oriented programming that enables one class to inherit properties, methods, and other characteristics from a parent class. The parent class is also known as the base class or superclass, while the inheriting class is referred to as the derived class or subclass. Inheritance promotes code reusability, as the inherited properties and methods do not need to be rewritten in each subclass. Instead, the subclass can simply reuse the existing code and can also add its own unique properties and methods. Inheritance helps to organize classes into a hierarchical structure, where the most generic or abstract classes are at the top, and the most specific or concrete classes are at the bottom. Inheritance is a fundamental concept in object-oriented programming and is supported by most modern programming languages, including Java, C++, and Python.