Inheritance and polymorphism are core concepts in Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) that enhance code reusability and flexibility.

Inheritance allows a new class to inherit properties and behaviors from an existing class. This means that you can create a class (known as the subclass or derived class) that is based on another class (known as the superclass or base class). For example, if you have a base class called “Animal,” you could create subclasses like “Dog” or “Cat” that inherit common characteristics from “Animal,” such as methods for eating or sleeping. This promotes code reuse because common functionality doesn’t need to be rewritten for each subclass.

Polymorphism refers to the ability of different classes to be treated as instances of the same class through a common interface. This is typically achieved by having different classes implement the same method in their own ways. For instance, both the “Dog” and “Cat” classes might have a method called “makeSound,” but each class will define “makeSound” differently—dogs might bark, while cats might meow. Polymorphism allows a program to treat objects of different classes in a uniform way, making the code more flexible and easier to extend.

Together, inheritance and polymorphism enable developers to create a more organized and scalable codebase, allowing for easier maintenance and expansion of software systems.