What are inheritance and access specifiers in object-oriented programming?

What are inheritance and access specifiers in object-oriented programming?

Inheritance is a mechanism where a new class derives properties and behavior from an existing class. Access specifiers control the visibility of class members.

Can you explain the different types of access specifiers?

Sure! The main access specifiers are public, private, and protected. Public members are accessible from anywhere, private members are only accessible within the class, and protected members are accessible within the class and its subclasses.

How does inheritance work with access specifiers?

In inheritance, access specifiers determine how members of the base class can be accessed in the derived class. For example, private members of the base class cannot be accessed directly in the derived class.

Can you give an example of inheritance with access specifiers?

Certainly! If you have a base class 'Animal' with a private member 'age' and a public method 'speak', a derived class 'Dog' can access 'speak' but not 'age'.