C#•13mo ago

❔ C# Inheritance Topic Question Mostly about base constructors

Hello! I just had some question regarding C# inheritance. So far, I have a few questions regarding on how inheritance works especially, the base constructors. I understand that inheritance is basically making a class a sub-class or child of a base class or parent. Because of this, the sub/child class can access the methods provided in the parent class. For base constructors, I can't really visualize on scenarios of using them effectively and how they function 100%. So far my questions are this: 1. Do the fields inside both classes get shared when a class inherits from another class 2. Using :base in the derived class' constructor makes the base class constructor called first, but why do we want this to happen? I understand that both constructors can take in different parameters and depending on those parameters, the fields will store that information type. But why do we have to initialize the base class if we initialize the derived class (child class) Thanks!

11 Replies

phaseshift•13mo ago

1. yes 2. that's how it is conceptually - the derived class is built 'on top' of the base. In a common example of inheritance you get e.g. Dog -> Animal. It is nonsense to have the dog-specific parts initialised but not the animal bits

krixsick•13mo ago

I see, but for the fields part If my parent class were to have like

private bool isOn
private string brand

public Electrical_Device(bool isOn, string brand)
{
   IsOn = isOn;
   Brand = brand;
}

private bool isOn
private string brand

public Electrical_Device(bool isOn, string brand)
{
   IsOn = isOn;
   Brand = brand;
}

And my sub class be:

private bool isOn
private string brand
class TV(bool isOn, string brand)
{
   IsOn = isOn;
   Brand = brand;
}

private bool isOn
private string brand
class TV(bool isOn, string brand)
{
   IsOn = isOn;
   Brand = brand;
}

phaseshift•13mo ago

uhm

krixsick•13mo ago

Would I not need to rewrite the fields again?

phaseshift•13mo ago

Why?

krixsick•13mo ago

Ohh I see you're right im stupid But if it were

phaseshift•13mo ago

do you understand private and protected access modifiers?

krixsick•13mo ago

different variables I only understand private and public rn 😅 If it was a different field for the sub class Then I would need to write it If it were the same I wouldn't

phaseshift•13mo ago

If it doesnt exist, you need to write a new one, yes thats kinda reductive

krixsick•13mo ago

OH ok, I think im starting to understand, tysm for the help

Accord•13mo ago

Looks like nothing has happened here. I will mark this as stale and this post will be archived until there is new activity.

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❔ C# Inheritance Topic Question Mostly about base constructors