Mechanism of extending and overriding class behavior through inheritance in Python

In Python, inheritance allows creating a new class based on an existing one, extending or overriding its behavior. This is achieved by specifying the base class in the subclass definition.

Method overriding is when a subclass implements a method with the same name as in the base class, modifying or extending its behavior.

Example:

class Animal:
    def speak(self):
        print("Animal makes a sound")

class Dog(Animal):
    def speak(self):
        print("Woof")  # Overriding the method

class Cat(Animal):
    def speak(self):
        super().speak()  # Calling the base class method
        print("Meow")  # Extending behavior

# Usage
dog = Dog()
dog.speak()  # Outputs: Woof

cat = Cat()
cat.speak()  # Outputs:
# Animal makes a sound
# Meow

Thus, inheritance and overriding enable creating class hierarchies with reuse and modification of behavior.