Examples of Object-Oriented Programming

Programming Paradigm Concepts

Eleanor Thomas

Senior Data Analytics Engineer

Applications of object-oriented programming

Simulations of various types (e.g. stock prices, physics problems)
Object-oriented databases (a specific type of database) like MongoDB
Problems where many small, similar tasks need to run at the same time (e.g. sorting many independent lists)

Object-oriented programming

Pros and cons of object-oriented programming

Pros

Maintains security of data
Allows for parallel development
Reusable and maintainable

Cons

Code can be slow to run
Programs can be longer (more lines of code)
Not appropriate for all applications -- inappropriate use results in long, slow programs

Public and private attributes

Public attributes and methods are available throughout the program (default in Python)
- Dog example: "name" = public attribute
- Dog example: "bark" = public method
Private attributes and methods are only accessible within the class itself (denoted with __ prefix in Python)

Public vs. private example

class Dog():
    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name

        self.__hungry = True

    def eat(self):
        self.__hungry = False


lacy = Dog("Lacy")
lacy.__hungry = False # This line won't work!!

Let's practice!

Programming Paradigm Concepts