Inheritance: Building Class Hierarchies

Inheritance allows new classes to inherit attributes and methods from existing ones. For example:

class Animal:
    def speak(self):
        pass

class Dog(Animal):
    def speak(self):
        return "Woof!"
inheritance

Polymorphism: Method Overriding

Polymorphism enables objects of different classes to be treated as objects of a common superclass. Key points:

  • Use super() to call parent class methods
  • Override methods with the same name
  • Maintain method signatures for compatibility
polymorphism

Encapsulation: Data Protection

Encapsulation bundles data and methods into a single unit. Best practices:

  • Use private attributes (_attribute or __attribute)
  • Provide public getter/setter methods
  • Control access through method interfaces
encapsulation

Abstraction: Simplifying Complexity

Abstraction hides complex implementation details. Example:

from abc import ABC, abstractmethod

class Shape(ABC):
    @abstractmethod
    def area(self):
        pass

Use abstract classes for interface definition and concrete classes for implementation.

abstraction

Advanced Patterns

Explore these advanced OOP patterns:

  1. Singleton Pattern - Ensure single instance creation
  2. Factory Pattern - Create objects without specifying the exact class
  3. Decorator Pattern - Add responsibilities to objects dynamically
  4. Observer Pattern - Define a one-to-many dependency

For more about Python's advanced features, visit our Python Advanced Features tutorial.