Final answer:
In object-oriented programming, inheritance is the process where one object acquires the properties of another. It allows creating a new class from an existing class, inheriting properties and behaviors while also potentially adding or modifying them. This is different from encapsulation, polymorphism, overloading, and overriding.
Step-by-step explanation:
In object-oriented programming, the process by which one object acquires the properties of another object is called inheritance. Inheritance allows a new class, known as a subclass or derived class, to absorb the characteristics of an existing class, which is often called the superclass or base class. This mechanism provides a way to create a new class from an existing class but with some additional or modified behaviors.
For example, consider a class Vehicle with properties like speed and capacity. If we have a class Car that inherits from Vehicle, the Car will automatically acquire the properties speed and capacity from Vehicle, alongside any methods that Vehicle might have.
It's important to note that encapsulation is related to the bundling of data with the methods that operate on that data. Polymorphism allows for the use of a single interface to represent different data types. Overloading is when two or more methods in the same class have the same name but different parameters. Overriding is when a subclass provides a specific implementation for a method that is already defined in its superclass.