Object-oriented programming

Article By:

Mata-Toledo, Ramon A. Department of Computer Science, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida.

Gupta, Pranshu Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, DeSales University, Center Valley, Pennsylvania.

Last reviewed:January 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.757337

A computer programming approach using a number of units called objects. In more technical terms, the programmer defines an object as a data structure and the operations (functions) that can be applied to it. The emphasis in object-oriented programming (OOP) is on characterizing the objects as active entities that can perform operations on and for them. In an OOP program, for instance, the user may click objects such as buttons and boxes contained in a window object, or may choose to close or open any available window object. Each action that a user takes (for instance, clicking on a button object) causes an event to occur. An event, in turn, may trigger or start the execution of a method (a particular sequence of programming statements) written for a particular purpose. Assume, for example, that after entering a series of values, the user clicks on a “Calculate Average” button. Clicking on this button causes an event to occur (the button's click event) that triggers a method that calculates the average of the given values. See also: Data structure

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