Method overriding

Method overriding allows a subclass to provide a different implementation of a method that is already defined in its parent class. By overriding a method, the subclass can modify or extend the behavior of the inherited method.

Let's take an example of a `Shape` class and a `Rectangle` subclass to understand how method overriding works:


class Shape:
    def area(self):
        pass


class Rectangle(Shape):
    def __init__(self, width, height):
        self.width = width
        self.height = height

    def area(self):
        return self.width * self.height
In this code, we define a `Shape` class with an `area` method that is left undefined using the `pass` statement. We also define a `Rectangle` subclass that inherits from the `Shape` class.

In the `Rectangle` subclass, we override the `area` method by providing a specific implementation that calculates the area of a rectangle based on its width and height.

To use the overridden method, we can create an object of the `Rectangle` class and call the `area` method:


rectangle = Rectangle(5, 3)
print(rectangle.area())  # Output: 15
15

In this code, we create an object of the `Rectangle` class with a width of `5` and a height of `3`. We then call the `area` method on the `rectangle` object, which invokes the overridden `area` method in the `Rectangle` class and calculates the area of the rectangle.

The output of the code will be:

```
15
```

In this example, the `area` method is overridden in the `Rectangle` subclass to provide a specific implementation that is different from the `area` method in the parent class (`Shape`).

Method overriding allows subclasses to customize the behavior of inherited methods to suit their specific needs. It provides a way to extend or modify the functionality of the parent class methods in the context of the subclass.

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