What are Object Oriented Systems?

As all of us know, the different types of the languages being used on the computer have not been developed in a one day i.e. it can be said that the evolution of the various languages has taken place constantly over the years and is still taking place. With the passage of the time, new needs are recognized and to fulfill these, the programmers keep on working to find an answer for the various questions and ultimately evolution and the development takes place. Hence because of these processes only, our computers have moved from the first generation to the second generation to the third generation and finally to the fourth generation.

Like this there has been a great evolution with the passing time in the different types of the programming languages.

So the Object Oriented System Development Approach can be defined as the further improvement that takes place over the earlier approaches.

The Procedure Oriented approach
The problem as a sequence of the action that is to be performed was viewed by the ProcedureOriented approach and writing of a list of the instructions for the computer to follow was involved in this approach.
These instructions were organized by the Procedure Oriented approach into the groups and these were referred to as the ‘Functions’.

This approach gives a great emphasis on the following
1. The algorithms.
2. Dividing the large programs into the various smaller programs, as explained above these smaller groups in management information systems are referred to as the ‘Functions’.
3. Global data being shared by the functions.
4. Data moving openly around the system from the function to the function.
5. Top down approach.
6. Transformation of the data from the one form to another by the Functions.

The Object Oriented Programming approach
1. In this approach, the data is considered as the critical element in the program development.
2. The data is not at all allowed to move freely around the system.
3. Data is linked very closely to the functions.
4. A great emphasis is given on the following in the objectoriented programming approach

I. The data.
II. The division of the programs into the objects.
III. Designing of the structures of the data.
IV. Functions operating on the data of an object are tied together in the data structure.
V. The non accessibility of the hidden data by any of the external functions.
VI. The communication of the objects with each other with the help of the functions.
VII. Bottom Up approach in the programming design.
VIII. The addition of the new data and the functions whenever required.

The OOSD Approach
The OOSD Approach involves the combination of the logic of the systems development life cycle and the power of the object oriented modeling and the programming.

The OOSD Approach follows the following steps

1. Identification of the potential problems that may arise within the organization.
2. Knowing the definition of the type of the system that is needed by the users.
3. System designing.
4. Developing the programs for the modules.
5. Evaluation.
6. Periodic review.

The advantages of The OOSD Approach
1. Makes the system design and the implementation very easy.
2. Lots of the development time is saved with the help of The OOSD Approach.
3. Very cost effective.
4. System maintenance is much simpler in the nature.
5. Security of the programs is very good.
6. The various existing modules that have been collected can be used in a number of the applications.

The Object Oriented Languages
The OOSD Approach does not make use of the specific object oriented language but The OOSD Approach and the OOP are sometimes implemented with the help of the extended conventional languages like the C or the Pascal. But generally the OOP is used by the various developers in order to get the structure and also the ease that is provided by the OOP. The categories in which the OOP languages can be divided can be explained as the follows

1. The division is based purely on the features that are supported by these languages.
2. The two categories are –

I. The Object Based Programming languages- Example of this type of the language can be Ada.
II. The object Oriented Programming languages – Examples of this type of the category can include Eiffel, Java, Simula, Small talk etc.

The applications of the OOP
1. Real time systems
2. Simulation
3. Modeling
4. Object oriented databases
5. Hypertext
6. Hypermedia
7. Expert text
8. Artificial intelligence
9. Expert systems
10. Neural networks
11. Decision support systems
12. CAD / CAM systems