module 8

• Object Oriented Programming (OOP)


  One of the main paradigms of programming used today, where programs are broken down into "objects" which encapsulate data and procedures
• Procedural programming


  One of the main paradigms of programming used today, where programs are broken down into "procedures" (e.g. functions) that operate on shared data
• Procedural programming

  • Code runs from top to bottom, calling functions as needed
  • Simpler approach to learn as a new programmer
• Object Oriented Programming (OOP)

  • Looks for related "groups" of data and procedures that can be encapsulated together to represent/abstract objects
  • More complex, but can be more reusable and scalable
• Procedural programming

  Data and procedures are independent
• Object Oriented Programming (OOP)


  Encapsulates data and procedures, controlling access to data via procedures
• Encapsulation


  Combining data and procedures into a single object, the core concept of OOP
• Interface

  The outwards-facing parts of an object, defining how it can be interacted with
• Attributes


  Data stored in an object (variables)
• Methods


  Procedures/functions of an object (what it can do)
• Public


  Attributes and methods that are accessible from outside of the object
• Private


  Attributes and methods that are only accessible from within the object
• Class


  The blueprint of an object - a data structure that defines what attributes and methods it has
• Object


  An instance of a class - the values of attributes are unique to each object, but all objects of a class implement the same methods
• Constructor


  A special method automatically called when an object of the class is created, used to control which attributes must be specified and perform setup
• Writing a class

  1. Define attributes and methods, including a constructor

  2. Attributes can be made private by adding two underscores before the name