What is the difference between a subclass and an instance of a class?

A subclass is a class derived from the superclass. It inherits the properties of the superclass and also contains attributes of its own. An example is: Car, Truck and Motorcycle are all subclasses of the superclass Vehicle .

Derived Class: A class that is created from an existing class. The derived class inherits all members and member functions of a base class. The derived class can have more functionality with respect to the Base class and can easily access the Base class. A Derived class is also called a child class or subclass .

A class is a sub of class iff all instances of are also instances of . In other words, all instances of the subclass are instances of the superclass , and the superclass may have other instances.

A subclass is the same as an inherited class . In example A, bar is an inner class. An inner class is like a nested type.28 Haz 2011

Child Classes Child or subclasses are classes that will inherit from the parent class . That means that each child class will be able to make use of the methods and variables of the parent class.