Inheritance

Inheritance in OOP = When a class derives from another class.

The child class will inherit all the public and protected properties and methods from the parent class. In addition, it can have its own properties and methods.

An inherited class is defined by using the extends keyword.

<?php
class Fruit {
  public $name;
  public $color;
  public function __construct($name, $color) {
    $this->name = $name;
    $this->color = $color;
  }
  public function intro() {
    echo "The fruit is {$this->name} and the color is {$this->color}.";
  }
}

// Strawberry is inherited from Fruit
class Strawberry extends Fruit {
  public function message() {
    echo "Am I a fruit or a berry? ";
  }
}
$strawberry = new Strawberry("Strawberry", "red");
$strawberry->message();
$strawberry->intro();
?>

Protected Access Modifier

<?php
class Fruit {
  public $name;
  public $color;
  public function __construct($name, $color) {
    $this->name = $name;
    $this->color = $color;
  }
  protected function intro() {
    echo "The fruit is {$this->name} and the color is {$this->color}.";
  }
}

class Strawberry extends Fruit {
  public function message() {
    echo "Am I a fruit or a berry? ";
    // Call protected method from within derived class - OK
    $this -> intro();
  }
}

$strawberry = new Strawberry("Strawberry", "red"); // OK. __construct() is public
$strawberry->message(); // OK. message() is public and it calls intro() (which is protected) from within the derived class
?>

Overriding Inherited Methods

Inherited methods can be overridden by redefining the methods (use the same name) in the child class.

<?php
class Fruit {
  public $name;
  public $color;
  public function __construct($name, $color) {
    $this->name = $name;
    $this->color = $color;
  }
  public function intro() {
    echo "The fruit is {$this->name} and the color is {$this->color}.";
  }
}

class Strawberry extends Fruit {
  public $weight;
  public function __construct($name, $color, $weight) {
    $this->name = $name;
    $this->color = $color;
    $this->weight = $weight;
  }
  public function intro() {
    echo "The fruit is {$this->name}, the color is {$this->color}, and the weight is {$this->weight} gram.";
  }
}

$strawberry = new Strawberry("Strawberry", "red", 50);
$strawberry->intro();
?>

The final Keyword

The final keyword can be used to prevent class inheritance.

<?php
final class Fruit {
  // some code
}

// will result in error
class Strawberry extends Fruit {
  // some code
}
?>

or to prevent method overriding.

<?php
class Fruit {
  final public function intro() {
    // some code
  }
}

class Strawberry extends Fruit {
  // will result in error
  public function intro() {
    // some code
  }
}
?>