In the previous example, you saw how a constructor called a method for a class. But how? That object wasn’t created yet… right? Well sort of. When you build from a base/parent class, it’s no arg constructor is called first, creating a base class. That object is then able to call it’s functions. Let’s try…
Using arrays to store a collection of variables, even objects, if very beneficial. However, it does have some limitations given that arrays are of a fixed size, and cannot shrink or grow with use. This means you either run out of space after a set of time, or you waste a lot of space as…
Once you create your class, you need to create an object. The Class is just a blueprint for the program to follow. It doesn’t do anything until you create an object based off of that blueprint. Think of a house. If you have a house blueprint, all you have are some sheets of paper or…
Object Oriented Programming (OOP) involves programming using objects. An Object is made from a Class which defines the attributes of the object and the behaviors. Think about it like what is it about or with adjectives (attributes) and what it can do, or verbs, (behaviors). As an example let’s consider a Class called Student. A…
Operations define the behaviors of the object. While there are lots of different behaviors, they can often be broken down into four main categories. Those that manipulate data often have a set in their function name. Such as setPassword(). Those that check the state of an object usually return a boolean value, and use the…
Attributes help describe a class. They are what help us differentiate from one object and another. Attributes should be relevant to the system that you are building. So two similar objects might have very different attributes based upon how it is used. Consider a College Student Athlete. The data needed for your sports team is…
Some things are easy to identify as a class. For example, if you look around the room, you can find lots of physical objects which can be made into classes. However, in a software environment, this may not always be as easy to identify. So look at the following questions to start to identify what…
Complex data types are usually classes. Some might be supplied by the language, while others are user defined. Complex data types have methods built in for working with the data, libraries that come with the language (potentially) and will vary from language to language on how they are stored and handled. The types of data…
