gudeman@arizona.UUCP (01/24/87)
From: gvcormack@watmum.UUCP (Gordon V. Cormack)
Subject: Re: Object-Oriented vs. Abstract Data Types
...
7. I still have not seen a satisfactory definition of O-O. I am not
at all sure that one exists. I think it *is* essentially the
Simula programming methodology invented 20 years ago by Dahl
et al.
I have seen at least 3 definitions of objected oriented programming,
most people seem to assume one of the following definitions (or some
combination).
Object Oriented Programming:
(1) programming in {Smalltalk, Simula, ...}.
(2) programming in a paradigm in which computation is specified by
sending messages to objects.
(3) programming with data structures that are organized hierarchicly,
with inheritance of {methods, operations}
I find (1) uninteresting. (2) is probably the original meaning of the
term, since it seems most related to the term (*Object* oriented).
(3) seems to be the one preferred by Lisp people (who naturally have
no use for languages that pass messages). It seems most Smalltalk
programmers use a combination of (2) and (3) with occasional shades of
(1).
Disclaimer of Bias: I'm a C and Icon programmer not an O-O programmer
Disclaimer of Stupidity: This is my first posting with the new
software, If my .signature occurs twice it's because the documentation
is faulty.
David Gudeman
gudeman@arizona.edu Department of Computer Science
ihnp4!arizona!gudeman The University of Arizona
602-621-2858 Tucson, AZ 85721