Inheritance is a significant concept in Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) and is fundamental to creating efficient, scalable, and modular code within the C++ programming language.

In real-world terms, we can liken the concept of inheritance in programming to the inheritance of characteristics in the biological realm. For example, in finance—as a senior engineer, you might be familiar with the concept of inheriting properties and behaviors in a financial system or dynamic. It is somewhat similar in programming. Inheritance in OOP allows classes to inherit common state and behaviors from another class.

In the context of C++, inheritance allows us to define a class in terms of another class, which makes it easier to create and maintain an application. This not only provides an opportunity to reuse the code functionality but also allows us to add more features to a class without modifying it. The class which is inherited is called the base or parent class, and the class that does so is known as the derived or child class.

Consider the following code snippet:

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#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

​

class Parent { // base class

public:

    int id;

    string name;

};

​

class Child : public Parent { // derived class inheriting from base class

public:

    int age;

};

​

int main() {

    Child child;

    child.id = 1;

    child.name = "John";

    child.age = 30;

    cout << "ID: " << child.id << "\n";

    cout << "Name: " << child.name << "\n";

    cout << "Age: " << child.age << "\n";

    return 0;

}

The best way to understand inheritance in C++ is to take a look at a simple code example. Let's consider a context from finance, specifically stock assets. If you're familiar with finance, you know that each stock can be considered as an asset with additional characteristics, such as its ticker symbol.

In the code here, we first define an Asset parent class that holds a value. We then create a Stock class that is derived from the Asset class. The Stock class introduces an additional property - the ticker symbol. This is a perfect example of inheritance, where the Stock class reuses the code in the Asset class and extends it with its characteristics.

Our main function then creates a Stock object, representing Apple's shares, with a ticker 'AAPL' and a value of 150. We can then use the methods defined in both the Asset and Stock classes, showing how inheritance allows efficient code reusability and extension.

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#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

​

// Parent class

class Asset {

public:

  Asset(int val):value(val) {}

  int Get() { return value; }

private:

  int value;

};

​

// Child class - Stock derived from the class Asset

class Stock : public Asset {

public:

  Stock(const string &name,int val):Asset(val),ticker(name) {}

  const string &Ticker() { return ticker; }

private:

  string ticker;

};

​

int main() {

  Stock apple("AAPL", 150);

  cout << "The stock " << apple.Ticker() << " is worth $" << apple.Get() << endl;

  return 0;

}

Polymorphism is a fundamental concept in Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). It allows us to perform a single operation in many ways and hence increases the modularity and readability of our code.

You might have come across financial derivatives in the financial market, right? These derivatives often have different underlying assets like stocks, bonds, commodities, etc., and they can be priced in many ways depending on their type and the nature of the underlying asset. Similarly, in OOP, polymorphism lets us define one interface (or method) and have multiple implementations.

Here's our game plan:

• First, we'll define an interface - think of it as a contract that our objects are obliged to follow. Inherited classes (or subclasses) will need to implement these methods.

• We'll then create a couple of classes that inherit from this interface. Each of these classes will have different implementations of the methods defined in the interface.

• Finally, we'll use these objects interchangeably to demonstrate how we can achieve polymorphism.

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}

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

​

// Interface

class IAsset

{

public:   

   virtual void getDescription() = 0;  // Pure virtual function

};

​

// Class inheriting interface

class Stock : public IAsset

{

public:

    void getDescription() { cout << "This is Stock." << endl; }

};

​

class Bond : public IAsset

{

public:

    void getDescription() { cout << "This is Bond." << endl; }

};

​

int main()

{

    Stock stockAsset;

    Bond bondAsset;

​

    stockAsset.getDescription();  // prints "This is Stock."

Now that we've developed a solid understanding of polymorphism as a concept, let's dive into seeing it in action; we think doing is better than just knowing.

Let's use a real-world example relating to finance, considering you're interested in it. Imagine we're building an investment portfolio that includes multiple types of financial derivatives such as Stocks and Bonds. Each type of derivative has its unique way of calculating its Value, despite all being financial derivatives. We'll use polymorphism in this specific manner.

First, we'll create a base class FinancialDerivative with a virtual function double CalculateValue(). This function acts as an interface, promising that all classes inheriting from FinancialDerivative will implement their own version of CalculateValue().

Next, we would define our Stock and Bond classes, which inherit from FinancialDerivative and provide their versions of CalculateValue(). A Stock's value might be based on multiple factors like its price, dividends, etc., meanwhile a Bond might calculate its value based on its face value and interest rates.

This way, we can keep a collection of all our derivatives in the portfolio and call CalculateValue() on them, irrespective of whether they're a Stock or a Bond. This is polymorphism in action!

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}

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

class FinancialDerivative {

public:

    virtual double CalculateValue(){

        return 0.0;

    }

};

​

class Stock : public FinancialDerivative {

public:

    double CalculateValue() override {

        // Unique implementation for Stock

        return 100.0;

    }

};

​

class Bond : public FinancialDerivative {

public:

    double CalculateValue() override {

        // Unique implementation for Bond

        return 200.0;

    }

};

​

int main() {

    Stock myStock;

    Bond myBond;

    cout << "Value of my Stock: " << myStock.CalculateValue() << endl;

In the realms of Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and finance, the concepts of Inheritance and Polymorphism play crucial roles in making the code reusable, efficient, and intuitive.

Let's revisit our finance-themed example. In a financial simulation, we might have a collection of FinancialDerivative objects - which could be Stocks, Bonds, or even more types of derivatives in a more complex system.

Imagine you wanted to calculate the value of the entire portfolio. Without Polymorphism, you'd have to check the type of each derivative object, cast it to the right type, and then call the right CalculateValue function. However, with Polymorphism, each object knows how to calculate its own value. So you can write a simple loop that calls CalculateValue() on each object, irrespective of its type.

This is a real-world scenario where Inheritance and Polymorphism work together to create scalable, reusable, and efficient code. Another common use-case could be an online shopping system where different types of products (clothes, electronics, books, etc.) inherit from a base Product class and implement their CalculateShipping() method.

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#include <iostream>

#include <vector>

using namespace std;

class FinancialDerivative {

public:

    virtual double CalculateValue() = 0;

};

class Stock : public FinancialDerivative {

public:

    double CalculateValue() override {

      // calculate value for Stock

    }

};

class Bond : public FinancialDerivative {

public:

    double CalculateValue() override {

      // calculate value for Bond

    }

};

int main() {

  vector<FinancialDerivative*> portfolio;

  portfolio.push_back(new Stock);

  portfolio.push_back(new Bond);

  double totalValue = 0;

  for(auto& derivative : portfolio) {

    totalValue += derivative->CalculateValue();

  }

  cout << "Total portfolio value: " << totalValue << endl;

}

In the world of Computer Science, the intermediate to advanced concepts in Object Oriented Programming (OOP) such as inheritance and polymorphism play a lead role in designing solutions to complex problems.

In C++, these concepts are seamlessly integrated to produce efficient, scalable and reusable code, which is highly appreciated in the realms of finance, AI and web development.

As we've gone through earlier, concepts like Inheritance allow different types of financial derivatives, e.g. Stocks and Bonds to inherit from a common base class FinancialDerivative. This increases code reusability by allowing methods from the base class to be shared across different derivative types.

Polymorphism enables a system to be more modular through interfaces. Each type of derivative in our finance example can calculate its value independently while using a simple and consistent interface to the rest of the system. This makes the whole program easier to understand and more scalable.

The efficient utilization of these advanced OOP concepts is a crucial skill in C++ coding and software development. With a good grasp of inheritance and polymorphism, the large-scale system design with C++ does not merely remain a complex task, but becomes an intuitive process, weaving simplicity in the meshes of complexity.

Let's give a practical reminder in the code to the right. FinancialDerivative is an abstract base class which has a pure virtual function CalculateValue(). Both, Stock and Bond classes inherit from it and provide their own implementation of CalculateValue(). Hence, we can see how a simple yet effective design can be achieved through inheritance and polymorphism in C++.

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#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

class FinancialDerivative {

public:

    virtual void CalculateValue() = 0;

};

class Stock : public FinancialDerivative {

public:

    void CalculateValue() override {

        cout << "Calculating Stock Value..." << endl;

    }

};

class Bond : public FinancialDerivative {

public:

    void CalculateValue() override {

        cout << "Calculating Bond Value..." << endl;

    }

};

int main() {

    Stock stock;

    Bond bond;

    stock.CalculateValue();

    bond.CalculateValue();

    return 0;

}