Python Inheritance

Inheritance allows us to define a class that inherits all the methods and properties from another class.

• Parent class (Base class): The class being inherited from.
• Child class (Derived class): The class that inherits from another class.

Create a Parent Class

class Person:
  def __init__(self, fname, lname):
    self.firstname = fname
    self.lastname = lname

  def printname(self):
    print(self.firstname, self.lastname)

Create a Child Class

To create a class that inherits the functionality from another class, send the parent class as a parameter when creating the child class:

class Student(Person):
  pass # Use pass if you don't want to add any other properties

The super() Function

Python also has a super() function that will make the child class inherit all the methods and properties from its parent:

class Student(Person):
  def __init__(self, fname, lname, year):
    super().__init__(fname, lname)
    self.graduationyear = year

Multiple Inheritance

Unlike some languages, Python supports Multiple Inheritance, where a child class can inherit from more than one parent class: class Child(Parent1, Parent2):.