Instructor: So, Tony What do you want to know about Programming?
Tony: First of all, how the programming languages evolves in a state we see today?
Instructor: Since the invention of computer, many programming approaches have been tried. Such as the
- Modular programming,
- Bottom-up programming,
- Top-down programming and
- Structured programming.
As computer develops, the programmers also face complexity of programs and also hard to maintain when it grew in large files. So, their main motive has been the concern to handle complex programs and also to make them reliable and maintainable.
Instructor: There are four types of language which creates the layers of computer software.
And among them Object Oriented Programming is known as the best known effective programming language to develop larger programs.
Tony: Why Object Oriented Programming is better that Procedure Oriented Programming and Structured Programming?
Instructor: After the failure of Structured Programming in terms of handling larger programs, maintenance, re-usability etc. Object Oriented Programming (OOP) is developed to eliminate some of the pitfalls of conventional programming methods by incorporating the best of structured programming features with several powerful new concepts is a new way of organizing and developing programs and has nothing to do with any particular language. However, not all languages are suitable to implement the OOP concepts easily.
Procedure Oriented Programming
It is basically consist of a list of instructions which are known as functions. We normally use a flowchart to organize and arrange the actions along with their flow of control from one action to another.
In case of Global data which are accessed by all the functions are vulnerable to inadvertent changes by a function. In a large program it is very difficult to identify what data is used by which function. In case we need to revise an external data structure, we also need to revise all functions that access the data. This provides an opportunity for bugs to creep in.
Another serious drawback with the procedural approach is that it does not model real world problems very well. This is because functions are action-oriented and do not really correspond to the elements of the problem.
All these led to the invention of Object Oriented Programming.
Tony: And how OOP handles data?
Instructor: OOP treats data as a critical element in the program development and does not allow it to flow freely around the system. It ties data more closely to the functions that operate on it, and protects it from accidental modification from outside functions.
OOP allows decomposition of a problem into a number of entities called objects and then builds data and functions around these objects.
Advantages of Object Oriented Programming:-
- Emphasis is on data rather than procedure.
- Programs are divided into what are known as objects.
- Data is hidden and cannot be accessed by external functions.
- Objects may communicate with each other through functions.
- New data and functions can be easily added when necessary.
- Data structures are designed such that they characterize the objects.
Objects is considered to be a partitioned area of the computer memory which stores data and set of operations that can access that data.