CHASH Tutorial

C# Inheritance

Inheritance in C# allows a class (called derived class) to acquire properties and methods from another class (called base class). It promotes code reusability and makes applications easier to maintain.

Example: Simple Inheritance

class Animal
{
    public void Eat()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Eating...");
    }
}

class Dog : Animal
{
    public void Bark()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Barking...");
    }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Dog myDog = new Dog();
        myDog.Eat();   // Inherited from Animal
        myDog.Bark();  // Defined in Dog
    }
}
  

Inheritance Types in C#

• Single Inheritance – One base class, one derived class
• Multilevel Inheritance – Inheritance in a chain (A → B → C)
• Hierarchical Inheritance – One base class, multiple derived classes
• Multiple Inheritance – Not supported directly, but can be achieved via interfaces

Multilevel Inheritance Example

class Animal
{
    public void Eat() => Console.WriteLine("Eating...");
}

class Mammal : Animal
{
    public void Walk() => Console.WriteLine("Walking...");
}

class Human : Mammal
{
    public void Speak() => Console.WriteLine("Speaking...");
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Human person = new Human();
        person.Eat();    // From Animal
        person.Walk();   // From Mammal
        person.Speak();  // From Human
    }
}
  

Base Keyword

Use base to access members of the base class from the derived class.

class Vehicle
{
    public Vehicle()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Vehicle constructor");
    }
}

class Car : Vehicle
{
    public Car() : base()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Car constructor");
    }
}
  

Key Takeaways

• Inheritance promotes reusability and cleaner code
• Use : BaseClass to inherit
• Use base keyword to call base class members
• C# does not support multiple class inheritance directly