Overview

Object-oriented programming is a discipline; as such it is not tied to any particular programming language. Theoretically at least, almost any language can be used for object-oriented programming. In practice, no one in their right minds would attempt to produce an object-oriented program in anything other than a language that has been created or extended specifically for that purpose.

A number of such languages are currently available, and they are enhanced all the time. This chapter chronicles the events leading up to the creation of OOP languages and describes the three languages that illustrate this book.

The following products are used as the basis of the examples in later chapters:

These languages are the ones most commonly used by Windows developers. OOP implementations by other software producers will closely follow the guidelines set down by Microsoft and Borland.

Application Size

Anyone who has used a computer for some time cannot have missed the worrying trend in the physical size of software packages. In the first few years of the IBM PC, an application program, such as a word processor or spreadsheet program, would typically be supplied on a single 360 Kb disk. This disk contained all that was needed to run the program, save data, and produce output on the screen or printer. Programs could even be run from floppy disk (and frequently were!). Documentation was a single, brief manual. Programs were only difficult to use when badly programmed.

Since those...