What is "inheritance" in OOP?

Inheritance in object-oriented programming (OOP) refers to a fundamental concept where a new class, often called a derived or child class, can inherit properties (attributes) and behaviors (methods) from an existing class, which is referred to as the base or parent class. This mechanism allows for code reusability and establishes a hierarchical relationship between classes.

When a child class inherits from a parent class, it can use all the public and protected properties and methods of the parent class, which promotes efficiency since programmers do not need to rewrite code. Additionally, the child class can extend or modify behaviors by including its own methods, thus allowing for polymorphism. This is a powerful aspect of OOP because it facilitates a clear structure and organization in code, making it easier to manage and understand.

The other responses do not accurately describe inheritance. While execution flow and memory management are important in OOP and programming in general, they pertain to different concepts and not the mechanism of inheritance. Error-checking methods refer to practices ensuring code correctness and do not connect with the inheritance feature. Therefore, the definition provided regarding inheritance captures its essence in OOP accurately.