Object Oriented Paradigm

1.4 Object Oriented Paradigm

The major motivating factor in the invention of object-oriented approach is to remove some of the flaws encountered in the procedural approach. OOP treats data as a critical element in the program development and does not allow it to flow freely around the system. It ties data more closely to the function that operate on it, and protects it from accidental modification from outside function. OOP allows decomposition of a problem into a number of entities called objects and then builds data and function around these objects. The organization of data and function in object-oriented programs is shown in fig.1.3. The data of an object can be accessed only by the function associated with that object. However, function of one object can access the function of other objects.


 
Some of the features of object oriented programming are:

• Emphasis is on data rather than procedure.
• Programs are divided into what are known as objects.
• Data structures are designed such that they characterize the objects.
• Functions that operate on the data of an object are ties together in the data structure.
• Data is hidden and cannot be accessed by external function.
• Objects may communicate with each other through function.
• New data and functions can be easily added whenever necessary.
• Follows bottom up approach in program design.

Object-oriented programming is the most recent concept among programming paradigms and still means different things to different people.