Benefits of Object-Oriented Programming

Study Notes

OOP allows for the reuse of object libraries.
The technology is constantly evolving, leading to rapid advancements and potential obsolescence of current products.
Strict guidelines are necessary to maintain the integrity of code reuse.

Object-based programming languages primarily support encapsulation and object identity. Features include data encapsulation, data hiding, automatic object initialization/cleanup, and operator overloading. Ada is an example.
Object-oriented programming languages incorporate all object-based features, plus inheritance and dynamic binding.

OOP is widely used in developing windowing systems.
It enhances data security by linking data closely to its manipulating functions, preventing accidental external modification.
It facilitates problem decomposition into manageable objects, then organizing data and functions around these objects.

Data prioritization over procedures.
Program division into objects with data structures characterizing these objects.
Data hiding to prevent external function access.
Object communication through functions.
Easy addition of new data and functions.
Bottom-up approach to program design.

Objects: Runtime entities representing real-world or program-defined items (persons, places, data tables, etc.). They interact by sending messages. Each object contains data and code to manipulate it.
Classes: User-defined data types. Objects are variables of a class type. A class defines the data and code (methods) for a set of similar objects. For example, "Mango," "Apple," and "Orange" are objects of the class "Fruit."
Data Abstraction and Encapsulation: Bundling data and functions into a single unit (class). Data is hidden and only accessible through the class's functions, providing an interface between the object's data and the program. Abstraction involves representing essential features without implementation details.
Inheritance: Objects of one class acquire properties from another class. Allows for creating new classes with added features without modifying existing ones. Supports hierarchical classifications.
Polymorphism: The ability to take on multiple forms. An operation can behave differently based on data type (e.g., addition of numbers vs. concatenation of strings). It allows objects with different structures to share the same external interface.
Dynamic Binding: Linking a procedure call to its code at runtime. Associated with polymorphism and inheritance and allows a function call's behavior to depend on the object's type at runtime.

Objects model real-world items (tangible or logical).
Defined by attributes (features: name, color, size) and behavior (operations/functions: read, drive, update_balance).

A class is a blueprint for creating objects.
It defines the data (attributes) and functions (methods) that objects of that class will have.
A single class can instantiate multiple objects with different values for its attributes. For example, multiple television objects (each with different brand, model, size, etc.) can be created from the "television" class.
A well-defined class is complete, documented, and robust.