Data Structures

There is a modification to the Linked List called a circular linked list. There is a current node which links to the next node, etc. This continues on until the “last” node, which points back to the first node. Circular lists work well where you need to always be pointing to the next element, and…

Object oriented languages do a good job of helping you learn to separate out the process of working with different data elements. This concept can be extended to get you toward an important software development concept: multi-tier applications. In the “old days” a program would pull data from a data source, store that information, perform…

Copying a value like an integer is easy. When we pass a value to a function/method, or create two variables, we simply copy the value of that integer, or whatever the primitive is. When we have custom data types, now we start to have more detailed questions. For example, do we pass a copy of…

Constructors Most Classes are meant to be instantiated as an Object. This means that it has its own unique data attributes and methods to access and control them. When created, a constructor should set up the class, but do the bare minimum amount of work outside of setting up initial values. This is for performance…

There are three major components of Object Oriented Languages. To be truly Object Oriented, you must have all three of these components to make up your language. Encapsulation The protection of data is a very important aspect of object oriented programming. Encapsulation is the idea that we protect and contain the data for our object….

Object Oriented Programming is about more than just storing custom data types. It is a whole methodology about thinking of how a real life object behaves. What information makes it up and how can it be used within the application. It is about storing data in a manner that is protected from other similar collections…

A pointer is a special type of data type. Instead of storing data, it stores a memory location. At this location is the data. In some languages, like C/C++, they expect the programmer to track and maintain the pointer information, using special references to know if they are storing/retrieving a location for data, or accessing…