4.2 Object-Oriented Programs

4.2 Object-Oriented Programs

An object-oriented program is an implementation of all the collections of objects that were modeled in the analysis and design phase of the software development process. Figure 4.1 illustrates part of the development process: the grouping of similar real-world objects into collections of objects, the modeling of these collections, and the software implementation of the corresponding classes. When the program executes, objects of these classes are created and made to interact among themselves.

Figure 4.1: Collections of real-world objects.

There are two views for describing an object-oriented program:

• The static view describes the structure of the program. Programs are composed of one or more modules called classes.

• The dynamic view describes the behavior of the program while it executes. This behavior consists of the set of objects, each one exhibiting individual behavior and its interaction with other objects.