Overview of Derived Classes

New classes can be derived from existing classes using a mechanism called “inheritance” (see the information beginning in Single Inheritance). Classes that are used for derivation are called “base classes” of a particular derived class. A derived class is declared using the following syntax:

Syntax

base-spec :

: base-list

base-list :

base-specifier
base-list , base-specifier

base-specifier :

complete-class-name
virtual access-specifier_opt complete-class-name
access-specifier virtual_opt complete-class-name

access-specifier :

private
protected
public