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Subject:Re. OOPs and objects From:Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> Date:Sat, 21 Oct 1995 10:08:19 LCL
Bobby Collins asked what "objects" were in the context of
programming. There's a formal definition, but here's a
simplistic summary: an object is a discrete collection of
data and rules (programming code) for manipulating that
data, and is separate from other objects until you combine
it into a larger "program". (Traditional programming
methods separated data from the rules.) Objects are useful
because you can define new objects that "inherit" the
properties of existing objects; moreover, if the object is
well designed, you can combine it with other objects simply
by knowing what information to send between objects and
what you'll get back in return. "Self-contained module" is
a good synonym.
--Geoff Hart @8^{)}
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Disclaimer: If I didn't commit it in print in one of our
reports, it don't represent FERIC's opinion.