New Discuss about Object Oriented Programming

[FCBtc1116]

Can you explain the concept of polymorphism in object-oriented programming, with an example?

[peterbaccaro]

Polymorphism in Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) means that the same function or method can work with different types of objects and behave differently based on the object it is acting on. It allows objects of different classes to be treated as objects of a common parent class.

In simple terms: "One function, many forms."

Here’s an easy-to-understand example in Python:

# Parent class
class Animal:
    def speak(self):
        return "Animal sound"

# Child classes
class Dog(Animal):
    def speak(self):
        return "Woof!"

class Cat(Animal):
    def speak(self):
        return "Meow!"

# Function to demonstrate polymorphism
def animal_sound(animal):
    print(animal.speak())

# Create objects
dog = Dog()
cat = Cat()

# Use the same function for different objects
animal_sound(dog)  # Output: Woof!
animal_sound(cat)  # Output: Meow!

How it works?

• The Animal class has a method called speak().
• Both the Dog and Cat classes inherit from Animal but have their own version of the speak() method.
• The animal_sound() function works with both a Dog and a Cat object, even though the speak() method behaves differently depending on the object passed to it.

The function animal_sound() doesn't care whether it's dealing with a Dog or a Cat — it just calls the speak() method, and Python automatically uses the correct version for the object. This is polymorphism in action!