How do you find common behaviors and attributes across different classes?

1 Identify the problem domain

The first step is to understand the problem domain, which is the area of knowledge or activity that the software is intended to solve or support. The problem domain defines the scope and purpose of the software, as well as the main actors, entities, and relationships involved. You can use techniques such as user stories, use cases, domain models, or class diagrams to capture the essential features and requirements of the problem domain. By analyzing the problem domain, you can identify the main concepts and terms that will form the basis of your classes.

3 Use inheritance and polymorphism

The third step is to use inheritance and polymorphism, which are two powerful features of OOD that enable you to create hierarchies of classes and implement dynamic behavior. Inheritance is the mechanism that allows a subclass to inherit the attributes and behaviors of a superclass, and optionally add or override them. Polymorphism is the ability of a subclass to behave differently depending on the context or situation. For example, if you have a subclass called Dog that inherits from Animal, you can override the make noise method to bark, instead of using the generic make noise method of Animal. You can also use polymorphism to invoke the make noise method on any object that belongs to the Animal hierarchy, and get the appropriate behavior depending on the actual type of the object. By using inheritance and polymorphism , you can increase flexibility, extensibility, and modularity.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?