Irv Kalb <i...@furrypants.com> writes: > I'm doing some writing for an upcoming course on OOP using Python.
Welcome, and congratulations for using Python in this work. > I'd like to know if there are "official" or even standard terms that > are used to describe a class that is inherited from, and the class > that is doing the inheriting. From my reading (especially the PSF > docs.python.org <http://docs.python.org/>), it looks like the terms > would be "base class" and "subclass". Standard (“official”) terms are most likely to be had from the language reference <URL:http://docs.python.org/3/reference/>. I would recommend the glossary <URL:http://docs.python.org/3/glossary.html>, but with the caveat that many flaws have been found in recent years. > However, in books about Python and other languages, I have also seen the > terms: > > base class & derived class > parent class & child class > superclass & subclass The only term I take issue with there is “superclass”. In a multiple-inheritance system, such as provided by Python, the superclass is *not* necessarily the base class. See this article from 2011 <URL:https://rhettinger.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/super-considered-super/>. > So, are base class & subclass the proper terms? In my opinion you will be correct to use those terms. Which is not to say that other terms aren't also good. -- \ “The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the | `\ hijacking of morality by religion.” —Arthur C. Clarke, 1991 | _o__) | Ben Finney -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
