Table of Contents

1 Introduction to Object-Oriented Concepts

The Fundamental Concepts

Objects and Legacy Systems

Procedural Versus OO Programming

Moving from Procedural to Object-Oriented Development

Procedural Programming

OO Programming

What Exactly Is an Object?

Object Data

Object Behaviors

What Exactly Is a Class?

Creating Objects

Attributes

Methods

Messages

Using Class Diagrams as a Visual Tool

Encapsulation and Data Hiding

Interfaces

Implementations

A Real-World Example of the Interface/Implementation Paradigm

A Model of the Interface/Implementation Paradigm

Inheritance

Superclasses and Subclasses

Abstraction

Is-a Relationships

Polymorphism

Composition

Abstraction

Has-a Relationships

2 How to Think in Terms of Objects

Knowing the Difference Between the Interface and the Implementation

The Interface

The Implementation

An Interface/Implementation Example

Using Abstract Thinking When Designing Interfaces

Providing the Absolute Minimal User Interface Possible

Determining the Users

Object Behavior

Environmental Constraints

Identifying the Public Interfaces

Identifying the Implementation

3 Advanced Object-Oriented Concepts

Constructors

When Is a Constructor Called?

What’s Inside a Constructor?

The Default Constructor

Using Multiple Constructors

The Design of Constructors

Error Handling

Ignoring the Problem

Checking for Problems and Aborting the Application

Checking for Problems and Attempting to Recover

Throwing an Exception

The Importance of Scope

Local Attributes

Object Attributes

Class Attributes

Operator Overloading

Multiple Inheritance

Object Operations

4 The Anatomy of a Class

The Name of the Class

Comments

Attributes

Constructors

Accessors

Public Interface Methods

Private Implementation Methods

5 Class Design Guidelines

Modeling Real-World Systems

Identifying the Public Interfaces

The Minimum Public Interface

Hiding the Implementation

Designing Robust Constructors (and Perhaps Destructors)

Designing Error Handling into a Class

Documenting a Class and Using Comments

Building Objects with the Intent to Cooperate

Designing with Reuse in Mind

Designing with Extensibility in Mind

Making Names Descriptive

Abstracting Out Nonportable Code

Providing a Way to Copy and Compare Objects

Keeping the Scope as Small as Possible

A Class Should Be Responsible for Itself

Designing with Maintainability in Mind

Using Iteration in the Development Process

Testing the Interface

Using Object Persistence

Serializing and Marshaling Objects

6 Designing with Objects

Design Guidelines

Performing the Proper Analysis

Developing a Statement of Work

Gathering the Requirements

Developing a Prototype of the User Interface

Identifying the Classes

Determining the Responsibilities of Each Class

Determining How the Classes Collaborate with Each Other

Creating a Class Model to Describe the System

Prototyping the User Interface

Object Wrappers

Structured Code

Wrapping Structured Code

Wrapping Nonportable Code
Wrapping Existing Classes

7 Mastering Inheritance and Composition

Reusing Objects

Inheritance

Generalization and Specialization

Design Decisions

Composition

Representing Composition with UML

Why Encapsulation Is Fundamental to OO

How Inheritance Weakens Encapsulation

A Detailed Example of Polymorphism

Object Responsibility

Abstract Classes, Virtual Methods, and Protocols

8 Frameworks and Reuse: Designing with Interfaces and Abstract Classes

Code: To Reuse or Not to Reuse?

What Is a Framework?

What Is a Contract?

Abstract Classes

Interfaces

Tying It All Together

The Compiler Proof

Making a Contract

System Plug-in Points

An E-Business Example

An E-Business Problem

The Non-Reuse Approach

An E-Business Solution

The UML Object Model

9 Building Objects and Object-Oriented Design

Composition Relationships

Building in Phases

Types of Composition

Aggregations

Associations

Using Associations and Aggregations Together

Avoiding Dependencies

Cardinality

Multiple Object Associations

Optional Associations

Tying It All Together: An Example

10 Creating Object Models

What Is UML?

The Structure of a Class Diagram

Attributes and Methods

Attributes

Methods

Access Designations

Inheritance

Interfaces

Composition

Aggregations

Associations

Cardinality

11 Objects and Portable Data: XML and JSON

Portable Data

The Extensible Markup Language (XML)

XML Versus HTML

XML and Object-Oriented Languages

Sharing Data Between Two Companies

Validating the Document with the Document Type Definition (DTD)

Integrating the DTD into the XML Document

Using Cascading Style Sheets

JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)

12 Persistent Objects: Serialization, Marshaling, and Relational Databases

Persistent Objects Basics

Saving the Object to a Flat File

Serializing a File

Implementation and Interface Revisited

What About the Methods?

Using XML in the Serialization Process

Writing to a Relational Database

Accessing a Relational Database

13 Objects in Web Services, Mobile Apps, and Hybrids

Evolution of Distributed Computing

Object-Based Scripting Languages

A JavaScript Validation Example

Objects in a Web Page

JavaScript Objects

Web Page Controls

Sound Players

Movie Player

Flash

Distributed Objects and the Enterprise

The Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)

Web Services Definition

Web Services Code

Representational State Transfer (ReST)

14 Objects and Client/Server Applications

Client/Server Approaches

Proprietary Approach

Serialized Object Code

Client Code

Server Code

Running the Proprietary Client/Server Example

Nonproprietary Approach

Object Definition Code

Client Code

Server Code

Running the Nonproprietary Client/Server Example

15 Design Patterns

Why Design Patterns?

Smalltalk’s Model/View/Controller

Types of Design Patterns

Creational Patterns

Structural Patterns

Behavioral Patterns

Antipatterns

About the Author

Matt Weisfeld is a college professor, software developer, and author based in Cleveland, Ohio. Prior to teaching college full time, he spent 20 years in the information technology industry as a software developer, entrepreneur, and adjunct professor. Weisfeld holds an MS in computer science and an MBA. Besides the first three editions of The Object-Oriented Thought Process, he has authored two other software development books and published many articles in magazines and journals, such as developer.com, Dr. Dobb’s Journal, The C/C++ Users Journal, Software Development Magazine, Java Report, and the international journal Project Management.