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< Chapter 6 Summary and Problems | Contents | 7.1 Introduction to OOP >
Chapter 7. Object Oriented Programming (OOP)¶
CHAPTER OUTLINE¶
Motivation¶
As demonstrated earlier, often we need to use other packages, such as
scipy, numpy, or other domain specified packages.
When you check the source code of these packages, you may see new
keywords in the code, such as class. What are classes and why do we use them? This is a new programming
paradigm - Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) that is commonly used in
writing large programs or packages. When writing a large program,
OOP has a number of pluses: it simplifies the code for better
readability, better describes the end goal of the project, is reusable, and reduces the number of potential
bugs in the code. Given these features, you will see OOP in most of the standard packages in the
field. Understanding its basics will help you write better code. This
chapter introduces the basics of OOP, with emphasis on the core
components: object, class, and inheritance, . Python is a highly
object-oriented programming language and understanding these concepts will help you program with a minimum amount of headaches.