Polymorphism - Rybd04/2143-OOP GitHub Wiki

Definition

Polymorphism

Allows objects of different classes to be treated as objects of a common superclass, typically through method overriding or method overloading (depending on the language).

Explanation

Allows different classes to respond to the same method call in different ways

Basic Code Example

class Animal:
    def speak(self):
        return "Some sound"

class Dog(Animal):
    def speak(self):
        return "Bark"

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

def make_animal_speak(animal):
    print(animal.speak())

make_animal_speak(Dog())  # Output: Bark
make_animal_speak(Cat())  # Output: Meow

Here, the make_animal_speak() function works with any object of type Animal, but the actual method called (speak) depends on the object passed in. This is polymorphism in action.

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Additional Resources

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/polymorphism-in-java/ https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/polymorphism