Differentiate Between Isomorphism and Polymorphism
Isomorphism and polymorphism are two concepts that can be confusing when it comes to programming. This article will try to make these concepts a little bit easier to understand by providing an example. Let’s say you have a class called Dog that has two methods, one called bark, and the other called wag.
We say that Dog is isomorphic to the function that takes a number x as input and returns a bark or wag value as output. This means that for any Dog object, we can find the corresponding function by calling bark() or wag(). Suppose we have another class called Cat that has two methods: meow and purr.
We say that Cat is polymorphic because there are several ways for a Cat object to behave, depending on the input value. For example, if we give a Cat object a number x as input, it may meow or purr, but it’s not guaranteed which method will be executed.
Contents
What is Isomorphism?
The terms isomorphism and polymorphism are often confused. Here is a quick overview of the two concepts to help you differentiate them:
Isomorphism: Two objects are said to be isomorphic if they have the same structure and behavior. For example, if we have two sets of objects, A and B, and we want to say that they are isomorphic if they have the same size and composition, then A could be considered a copy of B. This means that the two sets are the same.
Polymorphism: Polymorphism refers to how an object can change its behavior based on the data it receives. For example, let’s say we have a function that takes in two types of data—Integer and String. We might expect this function to behave the same way regardless of which type of data we give it.
However, sometimes this isn’t the case; for example, if we pass in an Integer data point, our function might return a String result, but if we pass in a String data point, our function might return an Integer result. This is because our function has polymorphic behavior.
What is Polymorphism?
Polymorphism is the ability of a class or type to take on different forms or polymorphs. An example of polymorphism in programming is the ability of a string to be converted into any other string type. Isomorphism, on the other hand, is the ability of two objects to be considered the same, even though they may look different.
Differences between Isomorphism and Polymorphism
Isomorphism is a relationship between two objects that results in them being the same. Polymorphism, on the other hand, is a relationship between two objects that results in them having different behavior.
Conclusion
To understand the difference between isomorphism and polymorphism, you need to know a little about how genes are organized in cells. Isomorphism means that the genes in two different organisms are identical; for example, humans and chimpanzees have four chromosomes in their cells.
Polymorphism, on the other hand, means that many different forms of a gene are present in different organisms. For example, some human genes may be expressed as muscle fibers, while others might be expressed as hair follicles.
