Software/Inheritance/Multiple

• Multiple inheritance

  • Overview

    • Multiple inheritance lets a class inherit from more than one parent. The class makes an Software/Inheritance/Is-A claim toward each of its parents at once.

  • Mechanism

    • When two parents define the same member, or both descend from a shared ancestor, the language needs a rule for which definition applies. Python orders the parents with the C3 linearization; C++ requires the call to name the parent and uses virtual inheritance to keep one copy of a shared ancestor.
    • Mixins and traits are a constrained form: one main parent, plus units of behavior added alongside it.

  • Trade-off

    • Software/Inheritance/Multiple/vs/Single weighs multiple inheritance against single inheritance.