Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), is a style of programming that several modern languages use (C++, C#, VB.NET, Java, etc.).
If you are saying to yourself, I am unsure what this all means, never fear. We are going to break things down into a digestible way.
Let’s start with the what.
What is Object-Oriented Programming?
It’s not as scary as it sounds. At first glance, it’s easy to get bogged down in the terminology of object-oriented programming. Here’s the deal. It’s just a language that focuses on objects. What we are doing is mimicking the real world.
We already think in terms of objects; however, you may not know it yet! So, here’s my challenge. Look around you. Maybe you are in your room, house, library, study lounge, or the coffee shop. Look at the furniture.
What do you see? Are there tables? Are they all the same, or are they different? What about the chairs? What about your dishes at home?
How about the people around you? Did you notice they are all different too?
All of these are examples of objects. Objects surround us, and this programming paradigm - meaning, way of programming, means we are trying to be like the real world, so we don’t have to re-adjust our thinking as much. Make sense?
Now that we know what, let’s answer the better question why.
Why do we use Object-Oriented Programming?
So, if we know what Object-Oriented Programming is, why do we do it? Well, we answered it somewhat by saying, it mimics what is happening around us already, but why do we want to program like this?
The answer is surprisingly simple. It comes down to two things:
You want to increase reuse and decrease maintenance.
What have we created that increases reuse? Functions right? Those helped a lot. Now, we can take it to the next level.
We want to decrease maintenance because I promise - your clients, your boss, etc. will want changes. Repeat after me, “The only thing constant in programming is change.”. As such, prepare yourself for change. Object-Oriented Programming can help with that.
Now, let’s get to the nuts and bolts.