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Inheritance is contrasted with object composition, where one object contains another object (or objects of one class contain objects of another class); see composition over inheritance. In contrast to subtyping’s is-a relationship, composition implements a has-a relationship.

Mathematically speaking, inheritance in any system of classes induces a strict partial order on the set of classes in that system.

• History

• Types

• Subclasses and superclasses

• Non-subclassable classes

• Non-overridable methods

• Virtual methods

• Visibility of inherited members

• Applications

• Overriding

• Code reuse

• Inheritance vs subtyping

• Design constraints

• Issues and alternatives

• See also

• Notes

• References

• Further reading

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