Basic Concepts of Object-Oriented Programming

It is necessary to understand some of the concepts used extensively in object-oriented

programming. These include:
 Objects
 Classes
 Data abstraction and encapsulation
 Inheritance
 Polymorphism
 Dynamic binding
 Message passing

Objects
Objects are the basic run-time entities in an object-oriented system. They may represent a
person, a place, a bank account, a table of data or any item that the program has to handle. They
may also represent user-defined data such as vectors, time and lists; Programming problem is
analyzed in terms of objects and the nature of communication between them. Program objects
should be chosen such that they match closely with the real-world objects. Objects take up
space in the memory and have an associated address.

When a program is executed, the objects interact by sending messages to one another. For
example, if customer and account are two objects in a program, then the customer object may
send a message to the account object requesting for the bank balance. Each object contains data,
and code to manipulate the data. Objects can interact without having to know details of each
other's data or code. It is sufficient to know the type of message accepted, and the type of
response returned by the objects.

Classes
We just mentioned that objects contain data, and code to manipulate that data. The entire set of
data and code of an object can be made a user-defined data type with the help of a class. In fact,
objects are variables of the type class. Once a class has been defined, we can create any number
of objects belonging to that class. Each object is associated with the data of type class with
which they are created. A class is thus collection of objects of similar type. For example,
mango, apple and orange are members of the class fruit. Classes are user-defined data types and
behave like the built-in types of a programming language.

Data Abstraction and Encapsulation

The wrapping up of data and functions, into a single unit (called class) is known as
encapsulation. Date encapsulation is the most striking feature of a class. The data is not
accessible to the outside world, and only those functions which are wrapped in the class can
access it. These functions provide the interface between the object's data and the program. This
insulation of the data from direct access by the program is called data hiding or information
hiding.

Abstraction refers to the art of representing essential features without including the background
details or explanations. Classes use the concept of abstraction and are defined as a list of
abstract attributes such as size, weight and cost, and functions to operate on these attributes.
They encapsulate all the essential properties of the objects that are to be created, The attributes
are sometimes called data members because they hold information. The functions that operate
on these data are sometimes called methods or member functions.
Inheritance
Inheritance is the process- by which objects of one class acquire the properties of objects of
another class. It supports the concept of hierarchical classification. For example, the bird 'robin'
is a part of the class 'flying bird" which in again a part of the class "bird”. The principle behind
this Sort of division is that each derived class shares common characteristics with the class from
which it is derived.

In OOP, the concept of inheritance provides the idea of reusability. This means that we can add
additional features to an existing class without modifying it. This is possible by deriving a new
class from the existing one. The new class will have the combined features of both the classes.
The real appeal and power of the inheritance mechanism is that it allows the programmer to
reuse a class.

Binding
The linking of function call to the code to be executed in response to the call is called binding.

Two type of binding:

1. Static Binding
2. Dynamic binding.

Static Binding
If the linking of function is at time compile we say it is static binding or early binding.

Dynamic Binding
Dynamic binding (also known as late binding) means that the code associated with a given
procedure call is not known until the time of the call at run-time. It is associated with
polymorphism and inheritance.

Polymorphism
Polymorphism is another important OOP concept. Polymorphism means the ability to take more
than one form. An operation may exhibit different behaviours in different instances. The
behaviour depends upon the types of data used in the operation. For example, consider the
operation of addition. For two numbers, the operation will generate a sum. If the operands are
strings,, then the operation would produce a third string by concatenation, The process of
making an operator to exhibit different behaviours in different instances is known as operator
overloading a single Function name to perform different types of tasks known as function
overloading.

Two types of Polymorphism:

1. Compile time polymorphism (binding at compile time Ex. Operator overloading and
function overloading).
2. Runtime Polymorphism (binding at runtime Ex. Virtual Polymorphism.)

Message Passing
An object-oriented program consists of a set of objects that communicate with each other. The
process of programming in an object-oriented language, therefore, involves the following basic
steps:
1. Creating classes that objects and their behaviour
2. Creating objects from class definitions, and
3. Establishing communication among objects.
Objects communicate with one another by sending and receiving information much the same
way as people pass messages to one another. The concept of message passing makes it easier to
talk about building systems that directly model or simulate their real-world counterparts.

A message for an object is a request for execution of a procedure, and therefore will invoke a
function (procedure) in the receiving object that generates the desired result. Message passing
involves specifying the name of the object, the name of the function (message} and the
information to be sent.

Benefits of OOP
Through inheritance, we can eliminate redundant code and extend the use of existing classes.
 We can build programs from the standard working modules that communicate with one
another, rather than having to start writing the code from scratch. This leads to Baring of
development time and higher productivity.
 The principle of data hiding helps the programmer to build secure programs that cannot
be invaded by code in other parts of the program
 It is possible to have multiple instances of an object to co-exist without, any
interference.
 Tt is possible to map objects, in the problem, domain to those in the program.
 It is easy to partition the work in a project based on objects.
 The data-centered design approach enables us to capture more details of a model in
implementable form.
 Object-oriented systems can be easily upgraded from small to large systems.
 Message passing techniques, for communication between objects makes the interface
descriptions with external systems much simpler.
 Software complexity can be easily managed.

Object-Oriented Languages
The languages should support several of the OOP concepts to claim that they are object
oriented. Depending upon the features they support, they can be classified into the following
two categories:
1. Object-based programming languages, and
2. Object-oriented programming languages.

Object base programming is the style- of programming that primarily supports encapsulation
and object identity. Major features that are required for object-based programming are:
 Data encapsulation
 Data hiding and Access mechanisms
 Automatic initialization and clear-up of objects
 Operator overloading

Languages that support programming with objects are said to be object-based programming
languages. They do not support inheritance and dynamic binding. Ada is a typical object based
programming language.
Object-oriented programming incorporates all of object-based programming features along with
two additional features, namely, inheritance and dynamic binding. Object-oriented
programming can therefore be characterized by the following statement

Object-based features + Inheritance + dynamic binding

Languages that support these features include C++, Smalltalk, Object Pascal and Java,

Features of the Object Oriented Programming

The fundamental features of the OOPs are the following:

 Encapsulation
 Data Abstraction
 Inheritance
 Polymorphism
 Message Passing
 Extensibility
 Persistence
 Delegation
 Genericity
 Multiple Inheritance

Encapsulation: It is a mechanism that associates the code and the data it manipulates into a
single unit and keeps them safe from external interference and misuse. In C++, this is supported
by a construct called class. An instance of a class is known as an object, which represents a
real-world entity.

Data Abstraction: The technique of creating new data types that are well suited to an
application to be programmed is known as data abstraction. It provides the ability to create user-
defined data types, for modeling a real world object, having the properties of built-in data types
and a set of permitted operators. The class is a constructed in C++ for creating user-defined data
types called abstract data types (ADTs).

Inheritance: It allows the extension and reuse of existing code without having to rewrite the
code from scratch. Inheritance involves the creation of new classes (derived classes) from the
existing ones (base classes), thus enabling the creation o f a hierarchy of classes that simulate
the class and subclass concept of the real world. The new derived class inherits the members of
the base class and also adds its own.

Polymorphism: It allows a single name/operator to be associated with different operations

depending on the type of data passed to it. In C++, it is achieved by function overloading,
operator overloading, and dynamic binding (virtual functions).

Message Passing: It is the process of invoking an operation on an object. In response to a

message, the corresponding method (function) is executed in the object. It is supported in C++.

Extensibility: It is a feature, which allows the extension of the functionality of the existing
software components. In C++, this is achieved through abstract classes and inheritance.
Persistence: The phenomenon where the object (data) outlives the program execution time and
exists between executions o f a program is known as persistence. All database system support
persistence. In C++, this is not supported. However, the user can build it explicitly using file
streams in a program.

Delegation: It is an alternative to class inheritance. Delegation is a way of making object

composition as powerful as inheritance. In delegation, two objects are involved in handling a
request, a receiving object delegates operations to its delegate. This is analogous to the child
classes sending requests to the parent classes. In C++, delegation is realized by using object
composition. Here, new functionality is obtained by assembling or composing objects. This
approach takes a view that an object can be a collection of many objects and the relationship is
called the has-a relationship or containership.

Genericity: It is a technique for defining software components that have more than one
interpretation depending on the data type of parameters. Thus, it allows the declaration of data
items without specifying their exact data type. Such unknown data types (generic data type) are
resolved at the time of their usage (function call) based on the data type of parameters. For
example, a sort function can be parameterized by the type of elements it sorts. To invoke the
parameterized sort ( ) , just supply the required data type parameters to it
 and the compiler will take care of issues such as creation of actual function and invoking that
transparently. In C++, genericity is realized through function templates and class templates.

Difference between C and C++

C C++

1. C is Procedural Language. 1. C++ is non Procedural i.e., Object

oriented Language.

2. No virtual Functions are present in C 2. The concept of virtual Functions are

used in C++.

3. In C, Polymorphism is not possible. 3. The concept of polymorphism is used in

C++.
Polymorphism is the most Important
Feature of OOPS.

4. Operator overloading is not possible in C. 4. Operator overloading is one of the

greatest Feature of C++.

5. Top down approach is used in Program 5. Bottom up approach adopted in

Design. Program Design.

6. No namespace Feature is present in C 6. Namespace Feature is present in C++ for

Language. avoiding Name collision.

7. Multiple Declaration of global variables are 7. Multiple Declaration of global

allowed. varioables are not allowed.

8. In C 8. In C++

 scanf() Function used for Input.  cin>> Function used for Input.
 printf() Function used for output.  cout<< Function used for output.

9. Mapping between Data and Function is 9. Mapping between Data and Function
difficult and complicated. can be used using "Objects"

10. In C, we can call main() Function through 10. In C++, we cannot call main()
other Functions Function through other functions.

11. C requires all the variables to be defined at the 11. C++ allows the declaration of variable
starting of a scope. anywhere in the scope i.e at time of its
First use.

12. No inheritance is possible in C. 12. Inheritance is possible in C++

13. In C, malloc() and calloc() Functions are 13. In C++, new and delete operators are
used for Memory Allocation and free() function used for Memory Allocating and
for memory Deallocating. Deallocating.

14. It supports built-in and primitive data types. 14. It supports both built-in and user
defined data types.

15. In C, Exception Handling is not present. 15. In C++, Exception Handling is done
with Try and Catch block.