PHP Inheritance

Inheritance is a fundamental concept in object-oriented programming that allows a class to inherit properties and methods from another class. In PHP, a class can extend another class using the extends keyword.

Benefits of Inheritance

  • Code Reusability: Allows the reuse of existing code, reducing redundancy.
  • Method Overriding: Subclasses can provide specific implementations of methods defined in the parent class.
  • Improved Organization: Helps in organizing code into a hierarchical structure.

Example of Inheritance

<?php
class Animal {
    public function speak() {
        return "Animal speaks";
    }
}

class Dog extends Animal {
    public function speak() {
        return "Dog barks";
    }
}

$dog = new Dog();
echo $dog->speak(); // Outputs: Dog barks
?>

Output:

Dog barks

Explanation: In this example, the Dog class inherits from the Animal class. The speak method is overridden in the Dog class to provide a specific implementation. When the speak method is called on a Dog object, it outputs Dog barks.