Introduction

To gain an understanding of some new area, it is virtually unavoidable to be immersed in the material for a while without exactly understanding where it will lead.


Introduction -- Principles of Object-Oriented Software Development

1

Additional keywords and phrases: client-server model, behavioral refinement, analysis, design, implementation, features and benefits


slide: Introduction

This first chapter will give a preliminary characterization of object-oriented programming, sketch some of its history and give an outline of the theme of this book, which may be summarized by the phrase that OOP provides a new means for abstraction in both programming and design. However, as will become clear later on, what OOP offers is not altogether new. One of the goals set for this book is to relate the mechanisms offered by OOP to their precedents in the history of computer programming and design languages. The reader may then establish whether OOP is just another toy for software developers or a significant contribution to both software engineering and programming. At the end of this introductory chapter, references are provided to the other literature in the field.