Inheritance Hierarchy
An inheritance hierarchy is a fundamental concept in object-oriented programming (OOP) that organizes or structures classes in a hierarchical tree in which each node is a class that inherits attributes and behaviors (methods) from its parent class, except for the root class, which does not have a parent class. This hierarchy enables the creation of more specific classes based on more general ones, facilitating code reusability and the extension of class functionalities. The OOP mechanism allows derived classes to override base classes or extend the functionalities of base classes. It plays a critical role in implementing polymorphism, allowing objects of different classes to be treated as objects of a common superclass. An inheritance hierarchy simplifies the management of relationships among classes, making it easier to understand, maintain, and modify the software.