There are several programming paradigms these days. Each of them allows you to develop different tools and solutions. Some are more in demand than others. Some can even be associated with other paradigms. Object-oriented programming is one of these programming paradigms.
It is one of the most used in the field of IT development. Indeed, object-oriented programming can be found in several different fields such as web programming, the development of various applications (mobile or desktop) and even in Big Data.
In this article, we'll break down the principles of this paradigm so you can get the foundation you need to start using it!
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OOP: what is it?
In object-oriented programming, there is the word “object”. An object can define an entity having a state that can possibly be changed and an attribute defining it. It can also be a collection of parts and processes leading to a result.
Take, for example, the case of a house. In order to obtain a viable home, you will need materials (bricks, cement, roofs, floors, etc.). You will also have to go through stages before arriving at a result of knowing how to live there (construction, finishing, etc.).
Object-oriented programming, often called OOP, follows this same logic. Indeed, it involves bringing together each part (called attributes) and each procedure to follow (called methods) in a single object called class.
This practice offers several significant advantages when developing a program such as its flexibility, its maintainability, its ease of understanding and many others.
What are its interests in Big Data?
The notion of Big Data involves the processing of a large volume of data. In order to be able to use them when making decisions, this processing must be carried out at a reasonable speed, or even as quickly as possible. The time between development and production of programs relating to this must be minimal. Object-oriented programming achieves this goal.
Indeed, OOP allows you to develop a clear and concise skeleton before the actual programming. It is easy to approach, scalable and adaptable to many other projects imaginable in the future. Moreover, certain languages such as Java or Python, which are the most used languages in the Big Data environment, are essentially based on object-oriented programming.
It is also integrated into Big Data tools like Hadoop and Spark, hence the interest in learning it if you want to enter this environment. Certain methods like machine learning are easier to implement with this programming paradigm.
Data scientists, data engineers and data analysts are its main users. However, learning object-oriented programming will probably come in handy one day or another, regardless of the position you want to occupy in the world of big data.
Now you know what it is and you understand why you should care about it. Let us see in the following paragraphs the basic principles of object-oriented programming .
Principle 1: encapsulation
The principle of encapsulation is undoubtedly the very foundation of object-oriented programming. It consists of grouping everything linked to an object within a class. So this involves integrating each attribute and each method into a single location.
In order to interact with this object, you must implement it, that is, create an instance of this class and call its methods. This concept makes it possible, among other things, to secure the code, by prohibiting its users from manipulating it directly.
Principle 2: abstraction
As we explained, the attributes and methods of each class are only accessible if we call that class in question. You can take this restriction further by applying the principle of abstraction.
Here it is about hiding all unnecessary functions from the user, i.e. prohibiting the manipulation or processing of certain methods to a specific degree.
This results in using private and protected when creating the class. Using one of these two prefixes allows you to limit access to certain methods. These methods can only be manipulated within the class itself or in heir classes (we will talk about this right away.).
Principle 3: inheritance
The notion of inheritance consists of integrating the methods and attributes of one class into another class. The base class is called the parent class and the one that inherits is called the child class. You should know that several classes can inherit from the same parent class, however, a child class can only have one parent class. This is manifested, among other things, by the declaration of an abstract class, acting as a parent class for a class using its methods.
This principle is interesting, because it allows the volume of code to be produced to be considerably reduced, because the same class can be used in different cases. You just need to adjust it to suit your needs. You can add existing functionality and methods in the parent class to enrich your program, for example.
Principle 4: polymorphism
In object-oriented programming, we can implement several methods with the same name. This concept is called polymorphism. Indeed, we can declare several functions with the same name, by only changing their attributes or the return values so that they change their behavior.
This principle is interesting because it avoids duplicating code, which makes the entire solution more fluid and easier to maintain. Remember that the goal is to obtain a program that allows rapid treatments without losing effectiveness.
Principle 5: interfaces
In order to avoid surprises along the way, when carrying out your project, it would be smart to integrate the concept of interface into your practice. This principle consists of creating classes with their respective methods, but leaving their methods empty.
You may be wondering what they are for in this case and how to use them?
In fact, they allow you to better visualize your program architecturally. This will therefore prevent you from getting lost and respecting the guidelines established beforehand. Indeed, for your program to work, you will need to implement all the methods present within the interface.
It should be noted that a class can implement several interfaces, unlike abstract classes.
Principle 6: static classes
A static class is a class that does not need to be instantiated in order to be usable. That is to say, you just have to call its methods to get a response.
To give you a reference, you should know that most libraries are based on this principle. This also ties in with the principle of abstraction which, remember, consists of restricting access to certain codes to users.
This concept is mainly used during mathematical or logical operations, because it does not change the current state of the entire program, much like functional programming. Its function remains to receive parameters and transmit results based on them.
