What is Overloading And Overriding in Python?

Method Overriding

Method overriding occurs when a subclass provides a new implementation for a method that is already defined in its parent class. This is useful when a child class needs a behavior different from its parent class.

Example of Method Overriding

Let's see an example of method overriding:

class Animal:
    def make_sound(self):
        return "Some generic animal sound"

class Dog(Animal):
    def make_sound(self):
        return "Bark"

# Creating objects of Animal and Dog classes
animal = Animal()
dog = Dog()

print(animal.make_sound())  
print(dog.make_sound()) 

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Output: 

Some generic animal sound
Bark

Explanation:

• The Animal class has a method make_sound().
   
• The Dog class overrides this method to return "Bark" instead of the generic sound.
   
• When calling make_sound() on an object of Dog, it executes the overridden method.
   

Another example using super() to call the parent class method:

class Animal:
    def make_sound(self):
        return "Some generic animal sound"

class Cat(Animal):
    def make_sound(self):
        return super().make_sound() + " but I prefer Meow"

cat = Cat()
print(cat.make_sound()) 

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Output: 

Some generic animal sound but I prefer Meow

Explanation:

• super().make_sound() calls the parent class method first.
   
• Then, additional behavior is added in the child class.

Difference between Method Overloading and Method Overriding in Python

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Python support method overloading?

Python does not support traditional Method overloading like Java or C++, but we can achieve similar functionality using default arguments or *args.

How does method overriding work in Python?

Method overriding occurs when a subclass defines a method with the same name and parameters as the parent class, replacing the parent's implementation.

What is the key difference between overloading and overriding?

Overloading deals with multiple methods with the same name but different arguments, while overriding changes the behavior of an inherited method in a subclass.

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed overloading and overriding in Python. Method overloading allows defining multiple methods with the same name but different parameters, though Python achieves this using default arguments. Method overriding occurs when a subclass provides a specific implementation of a method defined in its superclass. Understanding these concepts helps in writing flexible and reusable object-oriented code in Python.