Programming [was Re: sorting pathnames by basename ]

[Erik Price]

On Tuesday, August 20, 2002, at 12:00  PM, pll at lanminds.com wrote:

>> But at the point where I say to myself, "I really think that I could
>> write this better and more easily if I used an object-oriented
>> methodology and designed some class definitions to help me", I would
>> turn to Python and not look back.
>
> Not knowing much about OO technique and/or methodology other than
> what I've learned from Perl's bastardized attempt to rivet OO onto
> the backside of a language never meant for OO programming, I have to
> ask, is there a good, general, non-language specific text about OO
> design and/or methodology around?
>
> I'd like to understand the concepts and terminology used in OO
> programming before delving into something like Java or Python so that
> I can take better advantage of the OO features of these languages,
> but everything I've seen seems very language specific.

There is a book written just for you, and it is excellent:  "Beginning 
Java Objects", by Jacquie Barker (Wrox).

This book tends to be a bit pedantic (I think it is written for CS 100 
students), often taking a few pages to explain some things that are more 
briefly explained in Bruce Eckels' "Thinking in Java" (Prentice Hall).  
But that is its only drawback, and I actually would rather have more 
information than I need than less.

The book is divided into thirds:

1. The fundamentals and concepts of object oriented programming
2. Object modelling -- turning real life situations into abstract 
object-based representations
3. Case study -- putting the fundamentals and concepts together to write 
a full program in Java

The book advertises that it does not emphasize one language over others 
for the most part, and this is entirely correct.  While it says "Java" 
on the cover, that's obviously for marketing reasons, because you can 
get through the first two thirds of this book using Python, Java, or 
even PHP.  I think you can use Perl too, though OO in Perl is something 
that I am still very very new to.  (The last third of the book is 
applying the code in Java, so yes it does focus on Java.)

The point is that it teaches the basics of OO programming and design, 
and not how to write in Java.  This book should really be called 
"Beginning Object Oriented Programming and Design for any language, with 
examples in Java".  And I bet that if Python had *half* the mindshare 
that Java has, Barker would have written the book to use Python instead.


Erik

PS: I am still reading Bruce Eckel's book "Thinking in Java" and 
teaching myself Java, and already I am very glad that I read the first 
2/3 of Jacquie Barker's book first.  Eckel's book is good, but races 
through the fundamentals.  Barker's book shines when it comes to 
fundamentals.




--
Erik Price

email: erikprice at mac.com
jabber: erikprice at jabber.org