Polymorphism (computer science)

Polymorphism is an important idea in computer science and it means that something can have many forms. In programming languages and computer science, these forms are called methods. Methods are just like recipes - they tell the computer what to do and how to do it. A good example is a car - you can use it to drive, but also to wash it, fix it or even build a car. All these functions are called methods. Just like a car can have many different kinds of methods, a computer program can also have many different kinds of methods, and this is called polymorphism.