OOP: Inheritance (Definitions)

"Creating a new type that can extend the characteristics of an existing type." (Jesse Liberty, "Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 24 Hours" 3rd Ed., 2001)

"The ability of one data object to gain characteristics from another object." (Greg Perry, "Sams Teach Yourself Beginning Programming in 24 Hours" 2nd Ed., 2001)

"The process of passing methods and instance variables from a class, starting with the root object down to subclasses." (Stephen G Kochan, "Programming in Objective-C", 2003)

"A feature of object-oriented programming languages by which classes may be specialized from more general superclasses. Attributes and method definitions from superclasses are automatically acquired by the subclass." (Craig Larman, "Applying UML and Patterns", 2004)

"Acquiring the properties of the parent, or base object, in a new object." (Bob Bryla, "Oracle Database Foundations", 2004)

"The ability of a class to inherit features from another class via the < operator. See multiple inheritance, single inheritance." (Michael Fitzgerald, "Learning Ruby", 2007)

"A strong relationship between one class or trait and another class or trait. The inheriting (derived) class or trait incorporates the members of the parent class or trait, as if they were defined within the derivative. The derivative may override inherited members (in most cases). Instances of a derivative are substitutable for instances of the parent." (Dean Wampler & Alex Payne, "Programming Scala", 2009)

"A general to specific relationship between classes in an object-oriented environment." (Jan L Harrington, "SQL Clearly Explained 3rd Ed. ", 2010)

"A strong coupling between one class or interface and another. The inheriting (derived) class or interface incorporates the members of the parent class or interface, as if they were defined within the derivative. Hence, inheritance is a form of reuse. The derivative may override inherited members (unless declared final). For a properly defined derived type, instances of it are substitutable for instances of the parent, satisfying the Liskov Substitution Principle." (Dean Wampler, "Functional Programming for Java Developers", 2011)

"The process of passing methods and instance variables from a class, starting with the root object, down to subclasses." (Stephen G Kochan, "Programming in Objective-C" 4th Ed., 2011)

"What you get from your ancestors, genetically or otherwise. If you happen to be a class, your ancestors are called base classes and your descendants are called derived classes. See single inheritance and multiple inheritance." (Jon Orwant et al, "Programming Perl" 4th Ed., 2012)

"Building a class from the basic functionality of an existing class and then adding new functions." (Matt Telles, "Beginning Programming", 2014)

"A mechanism by which one class acquires the properties - data fields and methods - of another class" (Nell Dale & John Lewis, "Computer Science Illuminated" 6th Ed., 2015)

"An important feature of object-oriented programming that involves defining a new object by changing or refining the behavior of an existing object. Through inheritance, an object implicitly contains all of the non-private variables and methods of its superclass. Java supports single inheritance of classes and multiple inheritance of interfaces." (Daniel Leuck et al, "Learning Java" 5th Ed., 2020)