Polymorphism

• What is Polymorphism? 

  • Polymorphism is a concept in programming that allows objects to take on different forms or behaviours. 
  • Different objects can share the same name or behaviour but can work in different ways 
  • It helps make code more flexible, reusable, and easier to maintain 
  • It allows flexibility and reusability in programming, making it easier to write and manage code 
  • Objects can be treated as belonging to a common group, even if they belong to different classes, making your code more versatile and adaptable to changes 
• Method Overloading #1

  
  

  • In the example below, all three classes all have a method named move(). Polymorphism allows methods to be declared with the same name but execute different code (in this case printing different messages)
  • The override keyword Is used to provide a new implementation for a method that is already defined in the parent class (base class)

  
• Method Overloading #2

  • In the below example both the Motorcycle class and the Car class both inherit from the base class 'Cars' 
  • Objects from the Motorcycle Class and the Car class can call the startEngines() method which will output "Engines Started!" 
  • If either of the object types call the displayInfo() method, the program will execute the method from the objects class as it overrides the Vehicle class method

  
• Treating objects as common groups #1

  • Polymorphism also allows objects of different classes to be treated as objects of a common superclass or base class 
  • For example: 
  • Vehicle vehicle1 = new Car() 
  • Vehicle vehicle2 = new Motorcycle() 
• • Treating objects as common groups 
  • This allows an array of type Vehicle to store both Motorcycle and Car objects rather than in separate data structures 
  • If the vehicle1.displayInfo() method is called, it will still output "I am a Car!" 
  • If the vehicle2.displayInfo() method is called, it will still output "I am a Motorcycle!" 
  • This flexibility provided by polymorphism are essential for creating more maintainable and modular code