Advantages of object oriented programming - ayushmathur94/DirectQuesAns_Prep GitHub Wiki

Advantages of Object Oriented Programming

With OOP, instead of writing a program, you create classes. A class contains both data and functions. When you want to create something in memory, you create an object, which is an instance of that class. So, for example, you can declare a Customer class, which holds data and functions related to customers. If you then want your program to create a customer in memory, you create a new object of the Customer class.

The advantages of object-oriented programming lie in this kind of encapsulation. Here’s a look at some of OOP’s top benefits:

1. Modularity for easier troubleshooting

When working with object-oriented programming languages, you know exactly where to look when something goes wrong. “Oh, the car object broke down? The problem must be in the Car class!” You don’t have to go line-by-line through all your code.

That’s the beauty of encapsulation. Objects are self-contained, and each bit of functionality does its own thing while leaving the other bits alone. Also, this modularity allows an IT team to work on multiple objects simultaneously while minimizing the chance that one person might duplicate someone else’s functionality.

2. Reuse of code through inheritance

Suppose that in addition to your Car object, one colleague needs a RaceCar object, and another needs a Limousine object. Everyone builds their objects separately but discover commonalities between them. In fact, each object is just a different kind of Car. This is where the inheritance technique saves time: Create one generic class (Car), and then define the subclasses (RaceCar and Limousine) that are to inherit the generic class’s traits.

Of course, Limousine and RaceCar still have their unique attributes and functions. If the RaceCar object needs a method to “fireAfterBurners” and the Limousine object requires a Chauffeur, each class could implement separate functions just for itself. However, because both classes inherit key aspects from the Car class, for example the “drive” or “fillUpGas” methods, your inheriting classes can simply reuse existing code instead of writing these functions all over again.

What if you want to make a change to all Car objects, regardless of type? This is another advantage of the OOP approach. Make a change to your Car class, and all car objects will simply inherit the new code.

3. Flexibility through polymorphism

Riffing on this example, you now need just a few drivers, or functions, like “driveCar,” driveRaceCar” and “DriveLimousine.” RaceCarDrivers share some traits with LimousineDrivers, but other things, like RaceHelmets and BeverageSponsorships, are unique. In polymorphism, a single function can shape-shift to adapt to whichever class it’s in. You could create one function in the parent Car class called “drive” — not “driveCar” or “driveRaceCar,” but just “drive.” This one function would work with the RaceCarDriver, LimousineDriver and so on. In fact, you could even have “raceCar.drive(myRaceCarDriver)” or “limo.drive(myChauffeur).”

4. Effective problem solving

Many people avoid learning OOP because the learning curve seems steeper than that for top-down programming. But take the time to master OOP and you’ll find it’s the easier, more intuitive approach for developing big projects.

Object-oriented programming is ultimately about taking a huge problem and breaking it down to solvable chunks. For each mini-problem, you write a class that does what you require. And then — best of all — you can reuse those classes, which makes it even quicker to solve the next problem.

This isn’t to say that OOP is the only way to write software. But there’s a reason that languages like C++, C# and Java are the go-to options for serious software development.