Whats OOP?

[Jack Franklin]

Object Orientated Programming? What exactly is it, why is it better/worse than normal PHP, is it worth learning, where do I learn it?

A few questions for you guys

Jack

[welshstew]

OOP is just a way to organise your prgramming so that it's better

a general example.

you have many objects:

• wheel
• engine
• steering
• suspension
• lights
• etc

now you can combine these objects in any number of ways to make up another object:

• car
• bike
• plane
• etc

so, basically, you define objects that are reuable in multiple places.

does that make sense? can you now see the benefits of this?

[Jack Franklin]

Sort of yes. But I see no benefits?

[welshstew]

because the objects you define are generic, you can reuse them over and over again in different areas.

you don't have to write specific custom code for a function everytime, you just build it up.

like lego

[Jack Franklin]

Ahh I see. Thanks Stew.

[alexgeek]

Encapsulation, Polymorphism, reuse and inheritance are the main aspects of OO.
People usually use object orientated code when working with other developers as it's neater to code in.

[mybmodel]

Hi,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-...ed_programming

[able]

I think the main reason to learn OO PHP is the number of frameworks being released which nearly all are OO based. They can drastically reduce the time taken on projects.

[Jack Franklin]

Thanks guys. Anyone know where the best place is to start? Or a book, I'm happy to buy a book?

[Rakuli]

Hi Jack,

I think it's a bit hard to realise the full potential of OOP until you start using it. I was the same when I first heard of it, wondering what all the fuss was about.

I wrote an article for CC in October http://creativecoding.webforumz.com/...rest-of-us.php which is a nice introductory look at OOP in PHP.

There are also many beginner-intermediate tutorials online. A search for OOP in PHP will yield many results in google.

[able]

The single best introductory explanation of oo I ever read was by bruce eckle in 'Thinking in Java' - don't let the java bit put you off, the intro to the book just talks about oo rather than java and it's available free online.