BITS Pilani

BITS Pilani Avinash Gautam

Department of Computer Science and Information Systems
Pilani Campus
Introduction to Object Oriented
Programming

 Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is the term used to

describe a programming approach based on objects and classes.
 Allows us to organize software as a collection of objects that consist
of both data and behavior.
 Conventional functional programming practice only loosely connects
data and behavior.
 Object-oriented programming is the most important and powerful
way of creating software.
 The object-oriented programming approach encourages:
 Modularization: where the application can be decomposed into

modules.
 Software re-use: where an application can be composed from

existing and new modules.

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Features of OOP

 An object-oriented programming language generally supports five

main features:
 Classes

 Objects

 Encapsulation

 Inheritance

 Polymorphism

 Abstraction

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 An Object-Oriented Class

 If we think of a real-world object, such as a television it

will have several features and properties:
 We do not have to open the case to use it.

 We have some controls to use it (buttons on the box,

or a remote control).
 We can still understand the concept of a television,

even if it is connected to a DVD player.

 It is complete when we purchase it, with any external

requirements well documented.

 The TV will not crash!

In many ways this compares very well to the notion of a

class.

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An Object-Oriented Class

 A class should:
 Provide a well-defined interface - such as the remote control of

the television.
 Represent a clear concept - such as the concept of a television.

 Be complete and well-documented - the television should have a

plug and should have a manual that documents all features.

 The code should be robust - it should not crash, like the

television.

 With a functional programming language (like C)

 The component parts of the television scattered everywhere.

 Users would be responsible for making them work correctly.

 No case surrounding the electronic components.

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An Object-Oriented Class
 Humans use class based descriptions all the time (Think about this,
we will discuss it soon.)
 Classes allow us a way to represent complex structures within a
programming language. They have two components:
 States - (or data) are the values that the object has.

 Methods (or behavior) - are the ways in which the object can

interact with its data, the actions.

Unified Modelling
Language (UML)
representation of
the Television class for
object-oriented modelling
and programming.

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An Object
 An object is an instance of a class.
 Class is a description/blueprint of a concept
 An object is a realization of this description/blueprint to create an
independent distinguishable entity.
 For example, in the case of the Television, the class is the set of
plans (or blueprints) for a generic television, whereas a television
object is the realization of these plans into a real-world physical
television. So there would be one set of plans (the class), but there
could be thousands of real-world televisions (objects).
 Objects have their own identity and are independent from each other.
 If the channel is changed on one television it will not change on

the other televisions.

 Objects can be concrete (a real-world object, a file on a computer) or
could be conceptual (such as a database structure) each with its own
individual identity.
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An Object

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Encapsulation

 Encapsulation is used to hide the mechanics of the object, allowing the actual
implementation of the object to be hidden. All we need to understand is the interface that
is provided for us.
 For example, Television class, where the functionality of the television is hidden from us,
but we are provided with a remote control, or set of controls for interacting with the
television, providing a high level of abstraction.

 There is no requirement to understand how the signal is decoded from the aerial and
converted into a picture to be displayed on the screen before you can use the television.
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Encapsulation

 There is a sub-set of functionality that the user is allowed to call, termed the
interface.
 What are the interfaces of a Car?

 The full implementation of a class is the sum of the public interface plus the
private implementation.
 Encapsulation is the term used to describe the way that the interface is
separated from the implementation.
 Encapsulation as data-hiding
 Allow certain parts of an object to be visible

 Advantages for both the user and the programmer

 User

 Need only understand the interface.

 Need not understand how the implementation works or was created.
 Programmer

 Can change the implementation, but need not notify the user.
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Encapsulation

 There is a sub-set of functionality that the user is allowed to call, termed the
interface.
 What are the interfaces of a Car?

 The full implementation of a class is the sum of the public interface plus the
private implementation.
 Encapsulation is the term used to describe the way that the interface is
separated from the implementation.
 Encapsulation as data-hiding
 Allow certain parts of an object to be visible

 Advantages for both the user and the programmer

 User

 Need only understand the interface.

 Need not understand how the implementation works or was created.
 Programmer

 Can change the implementation, but need not notify the user.
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Encapsulation

 We can identify a level of 'hiding' of particular methods or states

within a class using the public, private and protected keywords:
 public methods - describe the interface.

 private methods - describe the implementation.

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Inheritance

 If we have several descriptions with some commonality between

these descriptions, we can group the descriptions and their
commonality using inheritance to provide a compact representation
of these descriptions.
 "What is a duck?“
 "a bird that swims“

 more accurately

 "a bird that swims, with

webbed feet.

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Inheritance – Another Example

 If were to be given an unstructured group of descriptions such as

Car, Swift, i20, Van, Vehicle, Motorbike and Scooter, and asked to
organize these descriptions by their differences.
 You might say that a Swift is a Car but has a long boot, whereas an
i20 is a car with a small boot.

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Inheritance

 One way to determine that you have organized your classes correctly is
to check them using the "IS-A" and "IS-A-PART-OF" relationship
checks.
 It is easy to confuse objects within a class and children of classes when
you first begin programming with an OOP methodology.

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Inheritance

 So, using inheritance the programmer can:

 Inherit a behavior and add further specialized behavior

 Inherit a behavior and replace it

 Cut down on the amount of code that needs to be written and

debugged

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Polymorphism

 When a class inherits from another class it inherits both the states and
methods of that class, so in the case of the Car class inheriting from the 
Vehicle class the Car class inherits the methods of the Vehicle class
 engineStart(), gearChange(), lightsOn() etc.

 The  Car class will also inherit the states of the Vehicle class

 isEngineOn, isLightsOn, numberWheels etc.

 Polymorphism means "multiple forms".

 In OOP these multiple forms refer to multiple forms of the same
method, where the exact same method name can be used in different
classes, or the same method name can be used in the same class with
slightly different parameters.
 There are two forms of polymorphism:
 Over-riding 

 Over-loading

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THANK YOU

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