Which of the statements given below is/are the advantage(s) of Inheritance?

Inheritance is an OOP mechanism that allows code reuse through class hierarchies. Statement (II) is a direct and legitimate advantage: inherited code reduces redundancy, saves memory, and ensures consistency. Statement (I) is partially valid but not a primary or universal advantage—development time depends on design complexity and team expertise. Statement (III) is incorrect: inheritance is a software design concept and does not directly reduce hardware instrumentation costs, which are determined by physical equipment requirements, not code structure.

Step-by-step Derivation:
Evaluating each statement:

Statement (I): "Application development time is very less"

• While inheritance can accelerate development by reusing code, development time depends on many factors (team skill, requirements clarity, design patterns). This is not a guaranteed or universal advantage.
• QUESTIONABLE

Statement (II): "Redundancy of code is reduced, thereby providing less memory cost and consistent results"

• TRUE. Inheritance allows derived classes to reuse base class code without duplication.
• Eliminates copy-paste code → smaller memory footprint.
• Single source of truth in base class → consistent behavior across subclasses.
• This is a core, well-established advantage of inheritance.
• CORRECT

Statement (III): "Instrument cost of the project is reduced"

• FALSE. "Instrument cost" refers to physical hardware/tools needed for the project.
• Inheritance is a software design pattern; it does not influence hardware purchasing decisions or physical equipment costs.
• INCORRECT

Conclusion: Only Statement (II) is a valid, well-recognized advantage of inheritance. Answer: D