What does inheritance mean in Java?

In Java, inheritance is a concept in object-oriented programming that allows a class (referred to as a subclass or derived class) to inherit the properties and methods of another class (referred to as a superclass or base class). Through inheritance, the subclass can access all non-private members of the superclass, including fields, methods, and nested classes.

The main purpose of inheritance is to achieve code reuse and extension. Subclasses can inherit properties and methods from parent classes to avoid rewriting the same code, while also adding new properties and methods in the subclass to meet specific needs. This creates an “is-a” relationship between parent and child classes, where the child class is a special type of the parent class.

In Java, the keyword “extends” is used to show that one class inherits from another. The child class can access the non-private members of the parent class and use the super keyword to refer to the parent class’s constructor and methods.

Inheritance also offers a mechanism for polymorphism, where a reference to the parent class can point to an object of the child class, allowing the same method to exhibit different behaviors in different child classes. This feature can enhance the flexibility and scalability of the code.