Python Inheritance Terminology

[Irv Kalb]

Thanks for the confirmation, and for the link.

Irv


> On Jan 5, 2018, at 4:32 PM, Ben Finney <ben+python at benfinney.id.au> wrote:
> 
> Irv Kalb <Irv at furrypants.com> writes:
> 
>> I'm doing some writing for an upcoming course on OOP using Python.  
> 
> Welcome, and congratulations for using Python in this work.
> 
>> I'd like to know if there are "official" or even standard terms that
>> are used to describe a class that is inherited from, and the class
>> that is doing the inheriting. From my reading (especially the PSF
>> docs.python.org <http://docs.python.org/>), it looks like the terms
>> would be "base class" and "subclass".
> 
> Standard (“official”) terms are most likely to be had from the language
> reference <URL:http://docs.python.org/3/reference/>. I would recommend
> the glossary <URL:http://docs.python.org/3/glossary.html>, but with the
> caveat that many flaws have been found in recent years.
> 
>> However, in books about Python and other languages, I have also seen the terms:
>> 
>> base class & derived class
>> parent class & child class
>> superclass & subclass
> 
> The only term I take issue with there is “superclass”. In a
> multiple-inheritance system, such as provided by Python, the superclass
> is *not* necessarily the base class. See this article from 2011
> <URL:https://rhettinger.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/super-considered-super/>.
> 
>> So, are base class & subclass the proper terms?
> 
> In my opinion you will be correct to use those terms. Which is not to
> say that other terms aren't also good.
> 
> -- 
> \        “The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the |
>  `\       hijacking of morality by religion.” —Arthur C. Clarke, 1991 |
> _o__)                                                                  |
> Ben Finney
> 
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