Motivation

Inheritance provides another very useful mechanism: (subtype) polymorphism. In a nutshell, the idea is that if a Pyramid¹ class extends the Rectangle class, then a Pyramid object can still access all the Rectangle’s public methods, properties and attributes. Indeed, a Pyramid is a Rectangle: this is precisely what polymorphism means.

While the example below is abstract, it can be easily instantiated to e.g., a Cat class inheriting from a Pet class or a Pyramid class inheriting from a Rectangle class.

Inheriting Attributes, Properties and Methods

Consider the following two classes:

class Class1
{
  private string attribute1;
 
  public void SetAttribute1(string aP)
  {
    attribute1 = aP;
  }
 
  public string Property1 { get; set; }
}

class Class1
{
  private string attribute1;
 
  public void SetAttribute1(string aP)
  {
    attribute1 = aP;
  }
 
  public string Property1 { get; set; }
}

Then,

• Any Class1 object has an attribute attribute1, a property Property1 and a method SetAttribute1.
• Any Class2 object has the attribute, property and method of a Class1 object, and in addition, it has a Property2 property.
• Actually, any object from Class2 is an object of Class1 and can be treated as such.

This means that the following code is valid:

class Program
{
  static void Main()
  {
    Class1 object1 = new Class1();
    object1.SetAttribute1("Test");
    object1.Property1 = "Test";
 
    Class2 object2 = new Class2();
    object2.SetAttribute1("Test");
    object2.Property1 = "Test";
    object2.Property2 = "Test";
 
    ClassHelper.Method1(object1);
    ClassHelper.Method1(object2);
    ClassHelper.Method2(object2);
  }
}

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Note, however, that

• object1.Property2 = "Test"; would not compile, since an object from Class1 cannot access the attributes, properties and methods of Class2.
• ClassHelper.Method2(object1); would also not compile, since an object from Class1 cannot “become” an object of Class2.

Stated differently, an object in Class2 is a(n object in) Class1, but the converse is not true: an object in Class1 is not an object in Class2.

Polymorphism and References

Note that a Class1 object can be created using a Class2 constructor, since an object in Class2 is a(n object in) Class1. Formally, we can write:

Class1 object3 = new Class2();

and then manipulate object3 like any other *object from Class1 (it is, in a way, “truncated”). In particular, we can use

object3.Property1 = "Test";

but object3.Property2 = "Test"; would not compile since we would be trying to access a property of Class2 with a Class1 object. Remember that an object in Class1 is not an object in Class2, and that the way we declared it, object3 is a Class1 object.

Solving Ambiguity by Overriding

For Methods

Now, consider the following class implementation and usage:

class Class1
{
  public string Test()
  {
    return "Class1";
  }
}
 
class Class2 : Class1
{
  public string Test()
  {
    return "Class2";
  }
}

using System;
 
class Program
{
  static void Main()
  {
    Class1 object1 = new Class1();
    Console.WriteLine(object1.Test());
 
    Class2 object2 = new Class2();
    Console.WriteLine(object2.Test());
  }
}

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Console.WriteLine(object1.Test()); will display “Class1”: there is no ambiguity, since object1 is a Class1 object, it can access only the methods in its class.

However, the situation is less clear for Console.WriteLine(object2.Test());: since object2 is “at the same time” a Class1 and a Class2 object, which method will be called? In this case, “Class2” will be displayed since C# prefers the “closest” method available (that is, the one in the same class as the calling object). However, a warning will be issued by the compiler because the Test method in Class2 “hides” the inherited method Test from Class1.

A much better code explicitly instructs C# to override Class1’s Test method with Class2’s Test method. However, this further requires Class1’s Test method to explicitly give permission to be overriden, using the virtual keyword:

class Class1
{
  public virtual string Test()
  {
    return "Class1";
  }
}
 
class Class2 : Class1
{
  public override string Test()
  {
    return "Class2";
  }
}

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This program will also display, as expected,

Class1
Class2

but this time the compiler will not complain: there is no ambiguity, as Class2’s Test method must explicitly take precedence when an object in Class2 is calling a Test method.

Note that by default, methods are non-virtual, and non-virtual method cannot be overridden. However, overriding methods are treated as virtual and can be overridden themselves, unless they use the sealed keyword, as follows:

public override sealed string Test(){…}

Such a method cannot be overridden by classes inheriting from the class to which they belong².

Last but not least, note that an override method must have the same signature as the overridden method.

For Attributes and Properties

Virtual attributes and properties can similarly be overridden, provided of course the overriding property or attribute has the same datatype and name as the virtual method or property. Consider for instance an int Property in a Class1 class with no requirement that is inherited by a Class2 that wish to forbid negative values. One could do the following:

class Class1
{
  public virtual int Property { get; set; }
}

using System;
 
class Class2 : Class1
{
  private int attribute;
  public override int Property
  {
    set
    {
      if (value < 0)
        throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException();
      else
        attribute = value;
    }
    get { return attribute; }
  }
}

Note that the property in Class2 has a backing field while there is no need for it in Class1.

The following would then throw an exception when the object2.Property = -12; statement would be executed:

using System;
 
class Program
{
  static void Main()
  {
    Class1 object1 = new Class1();
    object1.Property = -12;
 
    Class2 object2 = new Class2();
    try
    {
      object2.Property = -12;
    }
    catch
    {
      Console.WriteLine(
        "In Class2, Property cannot be set to a negative value."
      );
    }
  }
}

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Note that, as for methods, overriding properties are by default virtual and can be overridden, for example as follows:

class Class3 : Class2
{
  public override int Property { set; get; }
}

making Class3 “restore” the behavior of Class1’s Proporty using automatic properties.