CSC435 Topic 1: Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering fundamental concepts, elements of objects, class-object relationships, and core characteristics of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP).

Tangible Object

An object that can be seen and touched, such as people (student, staff, employee) or vehicles (car, bike).

Intangible Object

An object that cannot be seen and touched, such as laws, policies, events, or accounts.

Attribute

The relevant data relating to an object, also known as a state, field, or variable (such as color or model for a car).

Behaviour

The property indicating that an object can perform actions and have actions performed on it; also known as methods or functions.

State

The description about the data (fields/attributes) contained in an object at any specific point in time; changing the data changes the state.

Elements of an Object

The core constituent elements that define an object: attribute, behaviour, and identity.

Class

A template and abstraction of a real-world entity that specifies object behaviors and attributes; it represents a collection of objects of similar type and must be defined before creating an instance.

Object

An instance created from a class that is comprised of data (attributes) and operations (methods) that manipulate that data.

Variables

A set of properties representing the data or attribute variables of a class or an object.

Methods

A sequence of instructions that a class or an object follows to perform a task, representing the object's behaviors or operations.

Abstraction

The OOP characteristic involving the act of a software module containing only relevant characteristics of the object to be represented when designing classes.

Encapsulation

The OOP characteristic where data (attributes) and methods (behavior) are enclosed into a single unit or container called a class.

Data Hiding

A property of encapsulation where object data is declared private so it is not accessible by non-member modules.

Inheritance

The process by which one object acquires the properties of another object using the extends keyword, allowing general attributes to be inherited from a parent.

Subclass

Also called a derived class or child class; a class that inherits general attributes from its superclass and defines at least one attribute or method that differs.

Superclass

Also known as a base class or parent class; the class from which a subclass inherits its general attributes and methods.

Is-a Relationship

Another term for an inheritance link between a subclass and a superclass (for example, a CameraPhone is-a MobilePhone).

Polymorphism

An OOP feature meaning 'many forms' that enables one interface to be used for a general class of actions ('one interface, multiple methods') and allows classes to provide different implementations of methods having the same name.

Overloaded Methods

A set of multiple methods within a class that share the same name but have different parameters or types of parameters, demonstrating polymorphism.