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Thoughts about OOP programming

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Cpilot:
I don't really do or understand object oriented programming techniques. I have been reading about it and thinking about giving it a shot.
But I ran across this article and thought I would point folks to it for discussion and opinions on OOP.

OOP Is Much Better in Theory Than in Practice

Enjoy  :)

Rover:
mouser, I know you love OOP, so please don't take offence :)

I thought OOP was a crock when I first started toying with it in the 90's in Turbo Pascal and C++.  Then I figured I must just be too slow to pick it up.  Now I don't feel so bad.  Many people are telling stories of woe about OOP.

To be fair, I think it's almost a personality type.  I mean some people like OOP because it works the way they think.  Others, like me, don't like OOP because we can think...  I mean because we think different... or something  :-[

mouser:
thought provoking but ultimately extremely unconvincing to me.
i guess part of it might be a style issue, and i'll leave it to someone better at writing (and someone who isn't up to his eyeballs coding the donationcredits system) to dissect it, but really i think it misses all of the important features of object oriented programming.

what people have to realize is that ultimately, all code is compiled down into a very low level language like assembly.

everything else is just stuff on top to help you as a human organize your data and code in a way that makes it easier for you to write and maintain.

to me, over almost two decates, object oriented programming has represented a profoundly positive framework for organizing code and data structures.  it changes the way i plan solutions, conceive of problems, etc.  i can't imagine trying to keep complex programs organized without using it.

Carol Haynes:
GUI components are great time-savers, and they work well. But don't confuse them with OOP itself. Few people attempt to modify the methods of components. You may change a text box's font size, but you don't change how a text box changes its font size.
--- End quote ---

Isn't that the point of OOP programming - black box self contained and documented units that can be pulled off the shelf.

Sure it means that resulting code may not be as efficient (you may have redundant code knowcking about in the black boxes) but was OOP ever designed for pure number of lines efficiency.

He also says it works well in a large team programming structure - and I think that is the point. None of these tools (including all the current ones) are actually designed with the lone geek in mind, they are all designed for corporate solutions and big team playing.

I remember learning OOP programming via Turbo Pascal when it first came out. I can't remember any of the details but it was an interesting development. I'd guess that the vast majority of small scale programmers dabbled and then went back to linear methods, but most programs are now written using components (in one form or another) so even if the overall structure of the program isn't OOP I bet there are few applications that don't utilize OOP in some way - even if they don't know it!

mouser:
i completely and vigorously object to the idea that oop is only for group programming.

the more people you have looking at code the more important it is that it is better modularized, but saying that's the only time to use oop is like saying that a filing strategy helps organize stuff when you work in an office with lots of people, so when you are home you should just throw your papers on the floor randomly.


here is that authors full website against oop for those who didn't read through to the end of his article: http://www.geocities.com/tablizer/oopbad.htm
hmm.. i think this guy had a bad psychological reaction to oop when he was a baby.. maybe his ex-girlfriend was an oop fan.


now there are some more sophisticated attacks of oop than this guys, centering on new programming paradigms like "Aspect Oriented Programming" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect-oriented_programming

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