What is Hybrid Inheritance in C++

October 28, 2021

Hybrid or Multipath Inheritance in C++

As we know that inheritance is the process of extending the source code of one class to another class

It’s interesting to know that we can have the combination of both multilevel and Hierarchical Inheritance
This type of inheritance is also known as Multipath or Virtual Inheritance

Syntax to Implement Multipath Inheritance

The class that is acquiring the behaviors is called child class or derived class or subclass
The class from which behaviors are taken is called parent class or superclass or base class

class parent
{
  ----;
};
class child1: access parent
{
  -----;
  //contains properties of both
  //parent+child1
};
class child2: access parent
{
  ----;
  //contains properties of both
  //parent+child2
};
class child2_1: access child2
{
  -----;
  //contains properties of both
  //parent+child2+child2_1
};
class child1_1:access child1
{
  -----;
  //contains properties of both
  //parent+child2+child1_1
};

Example of program to demonstrate hybrid inheritance

#include
using namespace std;
class A
{

public:
void m1()
{
cout<<"\n m1 from class A";
}

};

class B: public A//B class inherits A as Parent
{

public:
void m2()
{
cout<<"\n m2 from class B";
}
//contains data of A+B

};

class C: public A//C class inherits A as Parent
{

public:
void m3()
{
cout<<"\n m3 from class C";
}
//Contains data of A+C

};

class D:public B//multilevel inheritance from A->B->D 
{

public:
void m4()
{
  cout<<"\n m4 from class D";
}
//contains data of class A+B+D

};

class E:public C//multilevel inheritance from A->C->E
{

public:
void m5()
{
  cout<<"\n m5 from class E";
}
  //contains data of class A+C+E

};

main()
{
  D d;//contains A+B+D properties 
  d.m1();
  d.m2();
  d.m4();
  E e;//contains A+C+E properties 
  e.m1();
  e.m3();
  e.m5();

}

Output

m1 from class A
m2 from class B
m4 from class D
m1 from class A
m3 from class C
m5 from class E

Hierarchal Inheritance from A-B and A-C

Class B contains 2 methods m1() from class A and m2() by its own
Class C contains 2 methods m1() from class A and m3() by its own

Multilevel inheritance from class A-B-D and A-C-E

Class D contains 3 methods m1() from class A and m2() from class B and its own method m4()
Class E contains 3 methods m1() from class A and m3() from class C and its own method m5()

What is Hybrid Inheritance in C++

Hybrid or Multipath Inheritance in C++

Syntax to Implement Multipath Inheritance

Example of program to demonstrate hybrid inheritance

OOPs Advanced – 1