Chapter 1. Object-Oriented Design

The world is procedural. Time flows forward and events, one by one, pass by. Your morning procedure may be to get up, brush your teeth, make coffee, dress, and then get to work. These activities can be modeled using procedural software; because you know the order of events you can write code to do each thing and then quite deliberately string the things together, one after another.

The world is also object-oriented. The objects with which you interact might include a spouse and a cat, or an old car and a pile of bike parts in the garage, or your ticking heart and the exercise plan you use to keep it healthy. Each of these objects comes equipped with its own behavior and, while some of the interactions between them might be predictable, it is entirely possible for your spouse to unexpectedly step on the cat, causing a reaction that rapidly raises everyone’s heart rate and gives you new appreciation for your exercise regimen.