For those who are new to object oriented programming (OOP), we first attempt to provide additional insight into objects and their class descriptions . It's often said that object oriented programming has a steep learning curve. This basically means that the concepts remain vague as you struggle up the slope of obscure terminology and obscure program codes, and then suddenly you are at the top of the hill and it all becomes clear.

One way to scale the hill to OOP clarity is to follow various analogies. The analogies can be metaphorical - the class description corresponds to a mold and the objects to the forms created by the mold - and they can be concrete - a class corresponds to a data type such as int or double but with customized data and functions. Considering both can help to make the concepts more transparent and tangible.

We also try to provide a clearer picture of what is going on at the processor level. Where exactly are these objects in the machine?

• Metaphorical Analogies - picturesque views of class descriptions and objects.
• Data Types and Objects - use the example of a custom built boolean variable
• Processor View - we discuss how objects and class descriptions look to a processor

More advanced topics

Additional information about classes and objects in Java include:

• Java vs C++ - a comparison of Java to C++ with regard to class and object coding.
• Garbage Collection - discussion of memory management in Java.

Latest update: Dec.13.2003