What are encapsulation and inheritance in programming?

Can you explain what encapsulation is in programming?

Encapsulation is a fundamental concept in object-oriented programming that restricts access to certain components of an object. It allows the internal state of an object to be hidden from the outside, exposing only what is necessary through methods.

And what about inheritance?

Inheritance is another key concept in object-oriented programming that allows a new class to inherit properties and methods from an existing class. This promotes code reusability and establishes a hierarchical relationship between classes.

Can you give me an example of both concepts in a programming language?

Sure! In Python, encapsulation can be demonstrated using private variables, while inheritance can be shown by creating a subclass that inherits from a parent class. For example:

class Animal:
    def __init__(self, name):
        self.__name = name  # private variable

class Dog(Animal):
    def bark(self):
        return f'{self.__name} says woof!'

Here, Dog inherits from Animal, and __name is encapsulated.

Thanks! That makes it clearer.