The Computer Revolution/Programming/Object Oriented Programming

OOP (Object Oriented Programming)uses objects which are self-contained items that have a data type, a data structure, and can also have the data. For example, an object might be road objects, vehicle objects, landscape objects which could be part of a driving simulation. The data within an object can be in a couple different formats. Such as text, numeric, video, image, audio etc. This and the ability to change different types of objects with the same methods leads to the development of programs that were near impossible to make with procedural programming languages.

The object is self-contained in that it only has necessary data sent to it, and the results are sent back. To change a current object takes a little more work. Especially if the source code is not available for the object, only the functionality. The objects have both functions and data and can be related to other objects.

One of the principal advantages of object-oriented programming techniques over procedural programming techniques is that they enable programmers to create modules that do not need to be changed when a new type of object is added. A programmer can simply create a new object that exhibits many of its features taken from existing objects. This makes object-oriented programs extremely easier to modify.

To perform object-oriented programming, one needs an object-oriented programming language (OOPL). Java, C++ and Smalltalk are three of the more popular languages, and there are also object-oriented versions of Pascal.

An Example of Object-Oriented Programming Software: Visual Basic

One of the easiest programming software to learn to use is called Visual Basic. It is a product of Microsoft which was designed based on the BASIC programming language. It is was designed to be very user friendly and is taught in many schools as an intro into the world of computer programming. One of its biggest appeals is that it employs a graphical user interface which helps many newcomers to familiarize themselves with computer programming as opposed to just having them use a text based software when starting out with coding.