C++ Primer, Fifth Edition

18.3. Multiple and Virtual Inheritance

Multiple inheritance is the ability to derive a class from more than one direct base class (§ 15.2.2, p. 600). A multiply derived class inherits the properties of all its parents. Although simple in concept, the details of intertwining multiple base classes can present tricky design-level and implementation-level problems.

To explore multiple inheritance, we’ll use a pedagogical example of a zoo animal hierarchy. Our zoo animals exist at different levels of abstraction. There are the individual animals, distinguished by their names, such as Ling-ling, Mowgli, and Balou. Each animal belongs to a species; Ling-Ling, for example, is a giant panda. Species, in turn, are members of families. A giant panda is ...