What is a characteristic feature of inheritance in object-oriented programming?

In object-oriented programming, a characteristic feature of inheritance is that it enables the creation of new classes from existing classes. This fundamental concept allows a new class, often referred to as a derived or child class, to inherit attributes and methods from a superclass or parent class. This mechanism promotes code reusability and establishes a hierarchical relationship between classes.

By allowing new classes to leverage the properties and behaviors of existing classes, inheritance minimizes redundancy and facilitates easier maintenance and enhancement of code. Additionally, it provides an effective way to implement polymorphism, where objects of different classes can be treated as objects of a common superclass, thereby promoting flexibility and scalability in software design.

In contrast, the other options do not accurately reflect the principles of inheritance. For instance, while combining methods might occur through other programming constructs, it does not specifically pertain to inheritance. Encapsulation, which focuses on bundling data and methods within classes, remains essential regardless of inheritance and is not eliminated by its use. Lastly, inheritance establishes relationships between classes, which contradicts the idea of ensuring that all classes are independent from one another.