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What is the significance of the "base" keyword in C# and how is it used in inheritance?

Gautam Ramesh16802-Jul-2023

What is the significance of the "base" keyword in C# and how is it used in inheritance?

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Updated on 04-Jul-2023
Gautam Ramesh

Gautam Ramesh

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I am Gautam Ramesh from Uttar Pradesh. Have completed my B. Tech. course from MNNIT campus Prayagraj in 2022. I have good knowledge of computer networking.

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1 Answers

Aryan Kumar

Aryan Kumar

04-Jul-2023

In C#, the base keyword is used to access members of the base class from within a derived class. It can be used to:

  • Call a method on the base class that has been overridden by another method.
  • Specify which base-class constructor should be called when creating instances of the derived class.

For example, consider the following code:

C#

class BaseClass
{
    public void BaseMethod()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("This is the BaseMethod() method.");
    }
}

class DerivedClass : BaseClass
{
    public override void BaseMethod()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("This is the DerivedClass.BaseMethod() method.");
    }
}

class MainClass
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        DerivedClass derivedClass = new DerivedClass();
        derivedClass.BaseMethod();
    }
}

In this code, the BaseMethod() method is overridden in the DerivedClass class. When the BaseMethod() method is called on the derivedClass object, the overridden version of the method is executed. However, if we want to call the original version of the BaseMethod() method, we can use the base keyword. For example:

C#

derivedClass.BaseMethod(); // Calls the overridden version of the method
base.BaseMethod(); // Calls the original version of the method

The base keyword can also be used to specify which base-class constructor should be called when creating instances of the derived class. For example:

C#

class BaseClass
{
    public BaseClass()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("This is the BaseClass() constructor.");
    }
}

class DerivedClass : BaseClass
{
    public DerivedClass()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("This is the DerivedClass() constructor.");
    }
}

class MainClass
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        DerivedClass derivedClass = new DerivedClass(); // Calls the DerivedClass() constructor
        derivedClass = new DerivedClass(10); // Calls the BaseClass() constructor
    }
}

In this code, the DerivedClass class has two constructors. The default constructor calls the BaseClass constructor, and the parameterized constructor does not call the BaseClass constructor. When we create a DerivedClass object without passing any parameters, the default constructor is called. However, if we pass a parameter to the DerivedClass constructor, the parameterized constructor is called, and the BaseClass constructor is not called.

The base keyword is a powerful tool that can be used to access members of the base class from within a derived class. It can be used to call methods, specify constructors, and more.

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