polymorfismein

Polymorphism, in the context of object-oriented programming, refers to the ability of different objects to respond to the same message or method call in their own specific ways. The word itself derives from Greek, meaning "many forms." This concept is a fundamental pillar of object-oriented design, alongside encapsulation and inheritance.

There are typically two main forms of polymorphism: compile-time polymorphism and runtime polymorphism. Compile-time polymorphism, also known as static polymorphism, is resolved during the compilation phase. Examples include method overloading, where multiple methods with the same name but different parameter lists exist within a class, and operator overloading, which allows operators like '+' or '-' to have different meanings depending on the data types they operate on.

Runtime polymorphism, also known as dynamic polymorphism, is achieved through inheritance and method overriding. When a parent class defines a method, and a child class provides its own specific implementation of that method, the correct version of the method to be executed is determined at runtime based on the actual object type. This allows for flexible and extensible code, where a single interface can be used to interact with objects of various derived classes without needing to know their specific types beforehand. This principle is often facilitated by abstract classes and interfaces. Polymorphism enables code to be more generic, adaptable, and easier to maintain.