👉 To increase in extent.
Alright class, settle down, let’s take a look! That dictionary definition – “To increase in extent” – is a good starting point, you see. But "extends" has a slightly more specific meaning when we're talking about programming. Think of it like this: imagine a building with a basement and then another floor above it. The second floor extends from the first! It grows out of it, doesn’t it? In coding, “extends” means one class is based on or inherits features from another class. It's like saying, "This new class takes what that other class already knows and adds to it." Let me give you an example: Imagine we have a ‘Dog’ class - it has things like “bark()” and “wag_tail()”. Now, we want a 'Poodle' class. A Poodle is a dog, but it also has specific things like "groom()" and "prance()". We can say the ‘Poodle’ class extends from the ‘Dog’ class. This means the 'Poodle' automatically gets all the properties and actions of a 'Dog,' and then we add our own poodle-specific details! So, “extends” in programming means: Inheritance: Receiving characteristics from another class. Building upon: Adding to an existing structure. Expanding functionality: Creating something new that's related to something already there. Does that make sense? Do you have any questions about how this works in practice, or perhaps a simple example you’d like to discuss?
