Polymorphism is a concept in object-oriented programming that allows objects of different classes to be treated as if they were objects of the same class. In PHP, polymorphism is achieved through inheritance, interfaces, and overloading.
Inheritance is the mechanism by which a class can inherit properties and methods from another class. In PHP, a class can inherit from one parent class using the “extends” keyword.
Interfaces are similar to classes, but they only define the methods that a class must implement. A class can implement multiple interfaces using the “implements” keyword.
Overloading is the ability to define methods with the same name but with different parameters or implementations. In PHP, overloading is achieved using the “__call” and “__callStatic” magic methods.
Polymorphism is useful because it allows code to be written that is more flexible and adaptable to different situations. For example, a function can accept an object of a certain class, but also objects of any class that implement a particular interface. This allows the function to be used with a wider range of objects, making it more reusable and easier to maintain.