What is shadowing?

When 2 elements in a program have similar name, one of them can hide and shadow the one. Therefore in such cases the element which shadowed the main element is referenced. The sample code is below in which, there are two classes "ClsParent" and "ClsShadowedParent". In the "ClsParent" there is a variable "x" which is an integer. "ClsShadowedParent" overrides the "ClsParent" and shadows the "x" variable to a string.

Public Class ClsParent

Public x As Integer

End Class

Public Class ClsShadowedParent

Inherits ClsParent

Public Shadows x As String

End Class

Figure:-Shadowing in Action