C# Polymorphism

by Online Tutorials Library July 14, 2022

C# Polymorphism

The term “Polymorphism” is the combination of “poly” + “morphs” which means many forms. It is a greek word. In object-oriented programming, we use 3 main concepts: inheritance, encapsulation and polymorphism.

There are two types of polymorphism in C#: compile time polymorphism and runtime polymorphism. Compile time polymorphism is achieved by method overloading and operator overloading in C#. It is also known as static binding or early binding. Runtime polymorphism in achieved by method overriding which is also known as dynamic binding or late binding.

C# Runtime Polymorphism Example

Let’s see a simple example of runtime polymorphism in C#.

 using System; public class Animal{     public virtual void eat(){         Console.WriteLine(“eating…”);     } } public class Dog: Animal {     public override void eat()     {         Console.WriteLine(“eating bread…”);     }      } public class TestPolymorphism {     public static void Main()     {         Animal a= new Dog();         a.eat();     } } 

Output:

eating bread...

C# Runtime Polymorphism Example 2

Let’s see a another example of runtime polymorphism in C# where we are having two derived classes.

 using System; public class Shape{     public virtual void draw(){         Console.WriteLine(“drawing…”);     } } public class Rectangle: Shape {     public override void draw()     {         Console.WriteLine(“drawing rectangle…”);     }      } public class Circle : Shape {     public override void draw()     {         Console.WriteLine(“drawing circle…”);     }  } public class TestPolymorphism {     public static void Main()     {         Shape s;         s = new Shape();         s.draw();         s = new Rectangle();         s.draw();         s = new Circle();         s.draw();      } } 

Output:

drawing... drawing rectangle... drawing circle...

Runtime Polymorphism with Data Members

Runtime Polymorphism can’t be achieved by data members in C#. Let’s see an example where we are accessing the field by reference variable which refers to the instance of derived class.

 using System; public class Animal{     public string color = “white”;  } public class Dog: Animal {     public string color = “black”; } public class TestSealed {     public static void Main()     {         Animal d = new Dog();         Console.WriteLine(d.color);        } } 

Output:

white

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