What are the different types of Inheritance? (Single, Multilevel, Hierarchical)

Difficulty: 5/10

inheritance types, class hierarchy, design tradeoffs

Types of Inheritance

The common structural forms of inheritance include single, multilevel and hierarchical inheritance. Single inheritance means one child derives from one parent. Multilevel inheritance forms a chain where one derived class becomes the base for another. Hierarchical inheritance has multiple child classes derived from the same parent. Some languages also support multiple inheritance of classes, while Java and C# intentionally restrict class inheritance to avoid ambiguity and complexity.

javascript

1
Single: A -> B.
2
Multilevel: A -> B -> C.
3
Hierarchical: A -> B and A -> C.
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Multiple inheritance: A class derives from multiple parent classes; language support varies.
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Deep inheritance hierarchies can increase coupling and make changes difficult.

Scenario Questions

0-2 years experience

1We have a base class Vehicle and a subclass Car. If we add another subclass Truck that also extends Vehicle, what kind of inheritance is this and how would you implement it in code?
2Suppose you need a class hierarchy where Employee -> Manager -> SeniorManager. What inheritance pattern does this represent and what are the implications for method overriding?
3If you create a class A that extends B, and B extends C, what inheritance type is this and how does the constructor chain work?

Follow-up Questions

Can you illustrate a case where hierarchical inheritance caused an unexpected bug?
How does constructor chaining differ between single and multilevel inheritance?
When would you choose composition over inheritance in these scenarios?