What does inheritance allow a class to do in programming?

Inheritance is a fundamental concept in object-oriented programming that enables a class to derive properties and behaviors from another class. When a class inherits from a parent class, it can access and utilize the methods and attributes defined in that parent class, thereby promoting code reusability and establishing a hierarchical relationship between classes.

This mechanism allows developers to create more specialized classes that build upon the shared characteristics of a base class, facilitating easier maintenance and organization of code. It allows for the extension of functionalities in a systematic way. As a result, a class can not only use the existing code but also override or add new functionalities.

In contrast, the other choices highlight aspects related to encapsulation (such as preventing changes to attributes) or multiple inheritance, which may not be supported in all programming languages. Therefore, the primary function of inheritance is recognized in how it allows a class to inherit methods and attributes from another class, making option A the correct choice.