Re: Interesting take on Paradigms (OO vs Procedural)

"Rick Smith" <ricksmith@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:13ur5tg3con5ja4@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> "Pete Dashwood" <dashwood@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> news:65553nF2cjsrhU1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>>
>> "Rick Smith" <ricksmith@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>> news:13uq9i0e2sfdd1a@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> >
>> > < http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~jrs/4/lec/14
>
>> > -----
>> > Why did the originators of object orientation rename "structures" to
>> > "objects"
>> > and "procedures" to "methods"?  Hubris and arrogance, in my opinion.
>>
>> This simply says that the writer has not really understood the
essential
>> differences. I read the full article and he/she does a good job of 
>> listing
>> the differences, but identifying differences and actually understanding
> the
>> implications of those differences are two different things.
>>
>> The comment above implies that the commentator sees no difference
between
> a
>> "structure" and an "object", yet anyone who has worked with these
things
> in
>> the real world would understand the essential difference. This is the
>> difference between Acadaemia and Reality.
>
> H'm! Structure, in procedural, is accessed through a pointer.
> Object, in object-based, is accessed through a reference.
> Object, in object-oriented, is accessed through a reference;
> but also holds a "vtable" to accommodate inheritance and
> polymorphism.
>
> The essential difference seems to be the extension of the
> structure to add the "vtable" making the object a bigger
> structure.
>
You are looking only at the mechanics of an implementation. The conceptual

use of objects is WAY more im****tant. But you only come to appreciate that

when you start using them for systems in the real world, and not just to 
describe some academic argument.

Whether objects implement inheritance through a vtable or not is
completely 
irrelevant to the use of objects. For you, an object is just a structure
in 
memory; for me, it is much more than that. I visualise objects as 
representing a real world entity and having attributes and behaviours that
a 
structure alone can never have. Perhaps it comes down to imagination and 
vision.

Pete.
-- 
"I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."