No, a superclass cannot directly inherit properties from its child class. Inheritance in object-oriented programming follows a top-down approach, where a subclass inherits properties and methods from its superclass.
- Inheritance Flow: The superclass, also known as the parent class, defines general characteristics and behaviors that are inherited by the subclass, also known as the child class.
- Child Class Extension: The child class can extend the inherited properties and methods or add its own unique ones, but it cannot directly influence the superclass.
- Example: Imagine a superclass called
Animal
with properties likename
andage
. A subclass calledDog
inherits these properties fromAnimal
. WhileDog
can add specific properties likebreed
, it cannot change or add properties to theAnimal
superclass.
This concept ensures that the superclass remains a consistent representation of the general characteristics, and the child class can specialize and add its own unique features without affecting the parent class's definition.