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Can a person take a course in object-oriented? Can a book
explain object-oriented? Or is it object-orientedness?
Object-orientation? Object-oriensis?
Any help will be welcome. I could use an OO noun...
Mark,
It?s a fair question.
In the beginning, software consisted mainly of sets of rules, called
procedures. The software application of step-by-step instructions was (and
still is) called procedural programming.
Way back in the early 1960s, software simulation
(http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~kristen/FORSKNINGSDOK_MAPPE/F_OO_start.html) began
to use entities -- with very specific properties. The first formal
object-oriented language was Simula 67. Software entities are what we call
objects.
An object is a formally defined entity with well-defined properties. The key
words are entity and properties. One can see how an entity with properties
is different from a set of step-by-step rules.
An object?s definition includes the properties of creation, destruction,
persistence, and inheritance. In particular, an object?s definition includes
how that object deals with data and how that object interacts with other
objects.
The concept of object orientation has been generalized. It can be applied
not only to software, but even to groups of people within an organization.
Rules, on the other hand, can?t interact. Sets of rules are called
procedures. Procedures are not entities.
Use the term "object orientation" to refer to the general methodology.
Use the term "object-oriented" (with a noun) to refer to a specific
application of object orientation.
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