Most people’s first introduction to programming is in a language such as BASIC or Logo. These are procedural languages, in which lines of code are executed in strict order. Variables are of a few standard types, and can be manipulated in a just few standard ways.
While procedural programming is easy to understand, it can be cumbersome and inefficient when it comes to complex projects. From the late 1950s onward, there’s been growing interest in object-oriented (OO) programming as an alternative approach.
The defining characteristic of OO programming is that, instead of working with simple, predefined variable types, you define “objects”, which can store whatever data you want, and do whatever you want them to do. For example, if you wanted to create a dice-rolling game you could define a die as…
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PC Pro (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2023