What is the role of derived classes?

Derived classes play a crucial role in object-oriented programming by inheriting members from base classes. This inheritance allows derived classes to reuse code, gaining access to properties and methods defined in base classes without the need to redefine them. Essentially, it promotes code reusability and establishes a hierarchical relationship between different classes, leading to a more organized and maintainable code structure.

By inheriting from a base class, derived classes can also extend or override existing functionalities, thereby enhancing or modifying behavior as needed for specific use cases. This empowers developers to design systems that are both flexible and extensible, easily accommodating future requirements or changes in implementation.

Other options refer to concepts that are important but do not specifically describe the primary role of derived classes. For example, implementing abstract classes is a feature that may involve derived classes but is not their primary function. Memory management and exception handling are separate concerns in programming and are not directly related to the characteristics and behaviors that derived classes provide through inheritance.