CS304 Object Oriented Programming

CS304: Object Oriented Programming

Welcome to Object Oriented Programming (OOP), a foundational course that introduces a powerful paradigm for software design and development. This course moves beyond procedural programming to teach you how to structure applications around data and objects rather than just functions and logic. You will learn to model real-world problems in a way that is more intuitive, manageable, and scalable, leading to code that is reusable, flexible, and easier to maintain.

The course begins with the core principles of OOP, establishing a strong foundation in concepts that are universal across many programming languages like Java, C++, Python, and C#. We will explore how to define classes, which act as blueprints for creating objects. You will understand how to encapsulate data and behavior within these objects, protecting data from outside interference and simplifying the overall program structure. This principle of encapsulation is the first pillar of object-oriented design.

Key Topics Covered:

• Classes and Objects: The fundamental building blocks of OOP. Learn to define classes, create instances (objects), and use constructors and destructors.
• Encapsulation: Bundling data (attributes) and methods (functions) that operate on the data within a single unit, and restricting access to implementation details.
• Inheritance: A mechanism for creating new classes that reuse, extend, and modify the behavior defined in existing classes. This promotes code reusability (the 'is-a' relationship).
• Polymorphism: The ability for an object to take on many forms. You will learn about method overriding (runtime polymorphism) and method overloading (compile-time polymorphism).
• Abstraction: Hiding complex implementation details and exposing only the essential features of an object or system. We will explore abstract classes and interfaces.
• Additional Concepts: Understanding static vs. instance members, 'this' pointer/reference, friend functions (in C++), and basic association/aggregation.

Course Objectives:

1. Understand the core principles and benefits of the object-oriented paradigm.
2. Design and implement classes and objects to model real-world problems.
3. Effectively use inheritance and polymorphism to create flexible and reusable code.
4. Apply abstraction and encapsulation to build robust and maintainable software.
5. Gain practical experience by developing object-oriented solutions to programming challenges.

By the end of this course, you will have a solid grasp of object-oriented concepts and the ability to apply them to build sophisticated, well-structured software applications. This skillset is essential for any aspiring software engineer or developer in the modern tech industry.