Hello friends, I hope you all are having fun. In today's tutorial, we will have a look at Introduction to Polymorphism in C#. It's our 16th tutorial in C# series and polymorphism is considered as a main pillar of object oriented programming.
In our previous tutorial, we have seen a detailed Introduction to Inheritance in C# and along with it, we have also discussed How to hide a Method in Parent Class, if the same method exists in Child class. This Method Hiding is actually the basis of Polymorphism, so let's discuss it out in detail:
Introduction to Polymorphism in C#
Polymorphism in C# enables the user to invoke a Child Class Method & override the Parent Class Method, using a Parent Class Reference variable.
In our previous lecture on Inheritance, we have also discussed method hiding and our last code is shown in below figure:
In the above code, you can see that we have used method hiding by using new keyword with ChildClass Method.
So, now instead of hiding the method let's override it and have a look at the results:
In the above figure, you can see that I have used virtual keyword with Parent Class Method.
Moreover, instead of new keyword, I have used override keyword with Child Class Method.
I have used the same reference variables as I did for Method Hiding code, but here in the third case, the child class method is called.
So, in Polymorphism, if the Child Class is involved in reference variable, then it will always override the Parent Class Method and will use the Child Class Method.
So, we can say that if we want to completely override any function in Parent Class, then we need to add virtual keyword in its definition.
This virtual Parent Class Method will always get override by any Base Class Method, which has the same name and has override keyword in its definition.
But if we want to invoke the virtual Parent Class Method, then we have to use Parent Class reference variable.
So, this third variable PC2 is the main difference between Method Hiding & Method Overriding (Polymorphism).
So, that was all about Polymorphism in C# and if you have got the Method Hiding then it won't be much of an issue for you. In the next lecture, we will have a look at Introduction to Structures in C#. Till then take care & have fun !!! :)
syedzainnasir
I am Syed Zain Nasir, the founder of The Engineering Projects (TEP). I am a
programmer since 2009 before that I just search things, make small projects and now I am sharing my
knowledge through this platform. I also work as a freelancer and did many projects related to
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