OOP (Object Oriented Programming)

The concepts of Object-Oriented (OO) programming have been around for over four decades. The OO paradigm mirrors the way people think about the real world. We see the world as communities of objects, each remembering information and providing services, while cooperating with others to achieve goals larger than any individual object could. The OO paradigm taps into this basic human model of our world and encourages us to analyze, design, and implement systems in this same, natural way.

OO's popularity and sophistication has increased in the past several years as businesses are abandoning their mainframe systems and incorporating more client-server models to run their businesses and are integrating web technology as a business tool. A change in the overall pace of business has also contributed to the increased popularity of OO programming. One of the primary features of OO programming is its relative flexibility and adaptability to changing business needs.

One of the main advantages of OO programming is its ease of modification; objects can easily be modified and added to a system there by reducing maintenance costs. OO programming is also considered to be better at modeling the real world than is procedural programming. It allows for more complicated and flexible interactions. OO systems are also easier for non-technical personnel to understand and easier for them to participate in the maintenance and enhancement of a system because it appeals to natural human cognition patterns.

For some systems, an OO approach can speed development time since many objects are standard across systems and can be reused. Components that manage dates, shipping, shopping carts, etc. can be purchased and easily modified for a specific system.