What is Polymorphism in Python?

It refers to the use of a single type entity (method, operator or object) to represent different types in different scenarios.

The word polymorphism means having many forms. In programming, polymorphism means the same function name (but different signatures) being used for different types.

Example of inbuilt polymorphic functions :

Examples of user-defined polymorphic functions :

Polymorphism with class methods:

Python can use two different class types, in the same way. We create a for loop that iterates through a tuple of objects. Then call the methods without being concerned about which class type each object is. We assume that these methods actually exist in each class.

Polymorphism with Inheritance:

methods in the child class that have the same name as the methods in the parent class. In inheritance, the child class inherits the methods from the parent class. However, it is possible to modify a method in a child class that it has inherited from the parent class. This is particularly useful in cases where the method inherited from the parent class doesn’t quite fit the child class. In such cases, we re-implement the method in the child class. This process of re-implementing a method in the child class is known as Method Overriding.

Polymorphism with a Function and objects:

It is also possible to create a function that can take any object, allowing for polymorphism. In this example, let’s create a function called “func()” which will take an object which we will name “obj”. Though we are using the name ‘obj’, any instantiated object will be able to be called into this function. Next, let’s give the function something to do that uses the ‘obj’ object we passed to it. In this case, let’s call the three methods, viz., capital(), language() and type(), each of which is defined in the two classes ‘India’ and ‘USA’. Next, let’s create instantiations of both the ‘India’ and ‘USA’ classes if we don’t have them already. With those, we can call their action using the same func() function:

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