What Is Object Oriented Programming?

As technology advances, many businesses continue to have a high demand for computer programmers. Object Oriented Programming is a classification that many programming languages share. Understanding OOP as a developer or programmer can help you build and maintain software programs written in a variety of languages.

This article discusses object oriented programming, its structure, and core principles, as well as the benefits of this programming style. It also lists the top 6 popular object oriented programming languages used by developers.

What Is Object Oriented Programming?

Object Oriented Programming (OOP) is a computer science programming paradigm that is based on the concepts of classes and objects. It is used to divide a software program into simple, reusable code blueprints (typically referred to as classes), which are then used to build individual instances of objects. Object-oriented programming languages abound, including Java, C++, Ruby, Python, PHP, and TypeScript (we will go into details about them later in the article). 

OOP languages aren’t always limited to the object-oriented programming paradigm. JavaScript, Python, and PHP, for example, support both procedural and object-oriented programming methods.

Object oriented programming is the most effective method for developing complicated computer programs. They are typically huge programs that address difficult problems.

Building Blocks of Object Oriented Programming

Classes, attributes, methods, and objects are the four building blocks of object-oriented programming.

Classes

A class is a data type that has been created by the user. It is made up of data members and member functions that may be accessed and utilized by generating an instance of the class. It denotes the collection of attributes or methods shared by all objects of the same type. A class is similar to an object’s blueprint.

For instance, consider the Class of Bikes. There may be many cars with different names and brands but they all have some common properties like all of them will have 2 wheels, pedals, etc. Then, the Bike is the class while wheels and pedals are properties.

Objects

It is a fundamental unit of Object-Oriented Programming that represents real-world entities. An Object is a subset of a Class. When a class is created, no memory is allocated; nevertheless, memory is allocated when the class is instantiated (i.e. an object is formed).

An object has a name, a state, and a behavior. Each object contains data as well as code for modifying it. Objects can interact without knowing the specifics of each other’s data or code; all that is required is knowledge of the type of message accepted and the type of response given by the objects.

For example “Cat” is a real-life Object, which has some characteristics like color, Breed, meowing, Sleep, and Eats.

Attributes

Attributes (or variables) are the characteristics of the object. Common object properties include appearance, condition, and other qualitative aspects. Class attributes along with object instances distinguish objects from one another.

Methods

A method is a function that does a certain task or operation. A method, for example, may return data about an object.

4 Principles of Object Oriented Programming

Encapsulation

Encapsulation is the process of enclosing data within a single unit. It is the mechanism that connects code and data.

Encapsulation means that a class’s variables or data are concealed from other classes and can only be accessed via any member function of the class in which they are specified. Because the data in a class is concealed from other classes in the same way as encapsulation is, it is also known as data-hiding.

Abstraction

Abstraction refers to the use of simplified classes to access objects rather than complex implementation code.

It is often easier to build a software when the interface of a class is separated from its implementation. With the class member functions, you can encapsulate the implementation details of a class and display a clean, easy-to-use interface in OOP. Abstraction assists in isolating the impact of code modifications such that if an issue happens, the change only impacts the implementation details of a class and not the outside code.

Inheritance

Inheritance is supported by most object-oriented languages, which means that a new class inherits the same attributes and functions as its parent class.

Inheritance enables you to organize classes into hierarchies, with each class having one or more parent or child classes. If a class has a parent class, it signifies that the parent’s properties have been passed down to the child. The child class can also change or extend the parent class’s behavior. Inheritance allows you to reuse code without rewriting a child class’s functions.

Polymorphism

Creating objects with shared behaviour is referred to as polymorphism.

Polymorphism in OOP enables the uniform treatment of classes in a hierarchy. When you write code for objects at the base of the hierarchy, all objects generated by a child class within the hierarchy have the same functions as the ones created by the root of the hierarchy. Different behaviors may be executed according to the type of object.

Benefits of OOP for Software Engineering

OOP provides a number of benefits that help it stay popular in DevOps. 

1. Offer code reusability 

One of the fundamental notions provided by object-oriented programming is the concept of inheritance. The attributes of a class can be handed down through inheritance, removing the need for redundant effort. This avoids the issues that arise from continuously writing the same code.

Because of the introduction of the concept of classes, the code block can be utilized as many times as needed in the application. A child class that employs the inheritance method inherits the fields and methods of the parent class. The available methods and values in the parent class can be easily changed.

2. Improve software development productivity

Given its modularity, extensibility, and reusability, object-oriented programming accelerates software development productivity when compared to traditional procedure-based programming techniques.
Instead of starting from scratch, you can develop programs from pre-written, interconnected modules, saving time and increasing productivity. The OOP language allows you to divide the software into manageable, separate problems. Object-oriented programming is modular because it allows for the division of labor in the building of object-based programs.

It can also be extended by adding new features and actions to objects. Objects can be used in a variety of applications.

3. Make troubleshooting simpler 

Troubleshooting is simplified when object-oriented programming is utilized since the user knows where to look in the code to locate the root of the problem. There is no need to review further code areas because the error will reveal where the problem is.

One advantage of using encapsulation is that all objects in object-oriented programming (OOP) are self-constrained. DevOps engineers and developers profit greatly from this multimodal behavior because they can now work on different projects at the same time while minimizing code duplication.

4. Strengthen security

One of OOP’s strong aspects is the concept of data abstraction, which allows only a small amount of data to be displayed to the user.

When only the essential information is available, the rest is not. As a result, security maintenance is achievable. Another set of OOP benefits in Java’s abstraction concept is used to hide complexity from other users and reveal the element’s information based on the requirements.

5. Allow easier code maintenance

In terms of code, object-oriented software is easier to maintain. Because of the flexibility of the architecture, it is possible to upgrade a component of the system in the event of a problem without requiring major changes. You can also create new objects by modifying existing ones.

This capability would help any programming language; it saves users from having to redo work in a variety of ways. It is usually straightforward and time-saving to maintain and update existing codes by adding new changes. As new objects can be created with just small differences from old ones, it is straightforward to maintain and modify existing code.

6. Prevent duplicated data

Data that has been repeated is referred to as redundant data. As a result, identical information appears multiple times. The redundancy of the data is regarded as a benefit in object-oriented programming. For example, the user would prefer a capacity comparable to that of almost all classes.

In such cases, the user can create classes with comparable functionality and inherit them as needed. The redundancy of data is a significant advantage of OOP. Users who want a similar feature in several classes can write standard class descriptions for them and inherit them.

7. Provide flexible code

Polymorphism is the concept of flexibility. Polymorphism has the following benefits for developers: extensibility and simplicity. Polymorphism, which permits a piece of code to existing in more than one version, is one advantage of OOP. For example, if the setting or environment changes, you may behave differently.

8. Address issues early

Another advantage of object-oriented programming is that it can resolve issues more efficiently by breaking them into smaller components. Deconstructing a big problem into simpler bits or components becomes valuable programming practice. Given this data, OOPS employs a feature that separates the program code into smaller, more manageable portions that are produced one at a time.

After you’ve disassembled the problem, you can reuse the separate pieces to solve other issues. Also, the modules with the same interface and implementation details could be used to replace the more minor code.

9. Lower development costs

Utilizing an object-oriented approach allows you to reduce some of the direct expenses associated with systems, such as maintenance and development. Reusing software also lowers development costs. Most of the time and effort is focused on object-oriented analysis and design, which reduces overall development costs.

Because more effort is often placed into the article-specific assessment and strategy, the overall cost of the improvement is lessened. The development cost is usually reduced since more time and effort are usually spent on object-oriented analysis and design.

Top 7 Object Oriented Programming Languages

In the last section, the article will briefly go through the 7 most popular object oriented programming, including Java, C#, C++, Ruby, Python, TypeScript, and PHP.

Conclusion

Object-oriented programming, or OOP, is a fundamental concept for developers to grasp, and it serves as the foundation for various high-level programming languages. The fundamental OOP ideas can assist you in understanding how basic programs work, identifying the main cause of bottlenecks, and resolving them through more imaginative code. Knowing OOP can help you grow your skills when you learn different languages and employ coding suites.