Greetings! In today's lesson, we'll explore the concept of polymorphism in C++'s Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). Understanding polymorphism empowers us to utilize a single interface to represent different types in various situations. Let's get started.

Polymorphism, one of the core principles of OOP, allows an object to take on multiple forms. Imagine a button in software; its behavior changes based on its type (e.g., a submit button versus a radio button). This dynamic showcases the essence of polymorphism!

Let's observe polymorphism in action through a simple application involving shapes. In the base Shape class, we define a pure virtual area method and a virtual destructor. The area method is uniquely implemented in the derived classes Rectangle and Circle, while the virtual destructor ensures that the destructors of derived classes are called appropriately, preventing resource leaks.