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A base class is a class, in an object-oriented programming language, from which other classes are derived. It facilitates the creation of other classes that can reuse the code implicitly inherited from the base class (except constructors and destructors). A programmer can extend base class functionality by adding or overriding members relevant to the derived class.
A base class may also be called parent class or superclass.
A class derived from a base class inherits both data and behavior. For example, "vehicle" can be a base class from which "car" and "bus" are derived. Cars and buses are both vehicles, but each represents its own specialization of the vehicle base class.
A base class has the following properties:
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