The main difference between inheritance and containership is that inheritance allows using properties and methods of an existing class in the new class while containership is another name for composition that describes the ownership between the associated objects.
Generally, most software companies use Object Oriented Programming (OOP) to develop their software. It allows the programmer to develop classes and to create objects using them. In other words, objects are created using classes. Here, the class is a blueprint, and an object is an entity with states and behaviors. Objects pass information with each other using methods. Moreover, inheritance and containership are two concepts related to OOP.
Key Areas Covered
1. What is Inheritance
-Definition, Functionality
2. What is Containership
-Definition, Functionality
3. Difference Between Inheritance and Containership
-Comparison of key differences
Key Terms
Aggregation, Class, Containership, Composition, Inheritance, Object, OOP
What is Inheritance
Inheritance is the methodology of using properties and methods of an already existing class in a new class. The already existing class is the parent class, superclass, or the base class. We call this new class as subclass, derived class or child class. Moreover, by using inheritance, the programmer can use already an existing code in his new code. Therefore, inheritance allows code reusability.
Further, there are different types of inheritance.
Single level Inheritance – There are two classes (A, B). B inherits from A.
Multi-level Inheritance – There are three classes (A, B, C). Furthermore, class C inherits from class B, and class B inherits from class A.
Multiple Inheritance – There are three classes (A, B, C). Class C inherits from both class A and B.
Hierarchical Inheritance – There are three classes (A, B, C). Class B and C inherit from Class A.
Hybrid Inheritance – This is a combination of multi-level and multiple inheritances. There are four classes (A, B, C, D). Moreover, B and C inherit from A and D inherits from B and C.
What is Containership
Containership is also called composition. It is a special type of aggregation that implies ownership. It allows any class to access the members of another class by making the object of that class. For example, class A could contain an object of class B as a member. In other words, containership specifies the accessibility of the components outside the class. The relationship explains that an object depends on another object and that there is a dependency. Moreover, as the containership is a type of aggregation, it denotes “has-a” relationship.
Difference Between Inheritance and Containership
Definition
Inheritance is the methodology of creating a new class using the properties and methods of an existing class. But, containership is a type of aggregation that allows a class to contain an object of a different class as a member data.
Usage
Furthermore, inheritance provides code reusability while containership allows representing the association.
Conclusion
In brief, inheritance and containership are two relationships. The main difference between inheritance and containership is that inheritance allows using properties and methods of an existing class in the new class while containership is another name for composition that describes the ownership between the associated objects.
References:
1.“Inheritance in Java – Javatpoint.” Www.javatpoint.com, Available here.
2.“Aggregation in Java – Javatpoint.” Www.javatpoint.com, Available here.
Image Courtesy:
1.”Multiple inheritance” By Suman Maverick Gangulian Suman420 – Own work (CC BY 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
Leave a Reply