What type of relationship describes inheritance in object-oriented programming?

In object-oriented programming, inheritance is best described by the concept of generalization. Generalization refers to the process of defining a base class from which more specialized subclasses derive their properties and behaviors. This allows subclasses to inherit attributes and methods from the base class, promoting code reuse and facilitating polymorphism.

In this context, a base class serves as a general representation of a set of common features, while subclasses represent more specific forms of that generalization. For example, if you have a base class called "Animal," it can have subclasses like "Dog" and "Cat," which inherit characteristics such as "speak" or "move" but can also have their unique attributes and behaviors.

This hierarchical relationship established through generalization is foundational to the principles of inheritance in object-oriented design, enabling structured and efficient code organization. The other options—aggregation, composition, and association—refer to different types of relationships between objects, but do not encapsulate the essence of inheritance as effectively as generalization does.