Module 2:

Class and object concepts and declaration

Prof. Tran Minh Triet

1
 Acknowledgement

❖This presentation reuses materials from:

▪ Course CS202: Programming Systems
Instructor: MSc. Karla Fant,
Portland State University
▪ Course CS202: Programming Systems
Instructor: Dr. Dinh Ba Tien,
University of Science, VNU-HCMC
▪ Course DEV275: Essentials of Visual Modeling with
UML 2.0
IBM Software Group
 Outline

❖What is an object?
❖What is a class?
❖OO Design
❖Class identifying
❖Class declaration

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What is an object?

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 What Is an Object?

❖Informally, an object represents an entity,

either physical, conceptual, or software.

▪ Physical entity
Truck

▪ Conceptual entity
Chemical Process

▪ Software entity
Linked List
 A More Formal Definition

Attributes
❖An object is an entity
with a well-defined
boundary and identity
that encapsulates state
and behavior.
▪ State is represented by
attributes and
relationships.
▪ Behavior is represented by
operations, methods, and
state machines. Object

Operations
 An Object Has State

❖State is a condition or situation during the

life of an object, which satisfies some
condition, performs some activity, or waits
for some event.
❖The state of an object normally changes over
time.
 An Object Has State

Name: J Clark
Employee ID: 567138
HireDate: 07/25/1991
Status: Tenured
Discipline: Finance
Name: J Clark MaxLoad: 3

Employee ID: 567138

Date Hired: July 25, 1991
Status: Tenured
Discipline: Finance
Maximum Course Load: 3 classes Professor Clark
 An Object Has Behavior

❖Behavior determines how an object acts and

reacts.
❖The visible behavior of an object is modeled
by a set of messages it can respond to
(operations that the object can perform).
 An Object Has Behavior

Professor Clark’s behavior

Submit Final Grades TakeSabbatical()
Accept Course Offering
Take Sabbatical
Professor Clark
Set Max Load

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 An Object Has Identity

❖Each object has a unique identity, even if the

state is identical to that of another object.

Professor “J Clark” Professor “J Clark”

teaches Biology teaches Biology

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What is a class?

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 What Is a Class?

❖ A class is a description of a set of objects

that share the same attributes, operations,
relationships, and semantics.
▪ An object is an instance of a class.
❖A class is an abstraction in that it
▪ Emphasizes relevant characteristics.
▪ Suppresses other characteristics.
 A Sample Class
Class
Course

Properties Behavior
Name Add a student
Location Delete a student
Days offered Get course roster
Credit hours Determine if it is full
Start time
End time
 Representing Classes in the UML

❖A class is represented using a rectangle with

three compartments: Professor
- name
- employeeID : UniqueId

▪ The class name

- hireDate
- status
- discipline
- maxLoad
▪ The structure (attributes)
+ submitFinalGrade()
+ acceptCourseOffering()
+ setMaxLoad()
▪ The behavior (operations) + takeSabbatical()
+ teachClass()
 The Relationship between
Classes and Objects

❖A class is an abstract definition of an object.

▪ It defines the structure and behavior of each
object in the class.
▪ It serves as a template for creating objects.
❖Classes are not collections of objects.

Professor
Professor Torpie

Professor Meijer Professor Allen

 What Is an Attribute?

❖An attribute is a named property of a class

that describes the range of values that
instances of the property may hold.
▪ A class may have any number of attributes or no
attributes at all.
Student
- name
- address
Attributes
- studentID
- dateOfBirth
 Attributes in Classes and Objects
Class
:Student
- name = “M. Modano”
- address = “123 Main St.”
Student - studentID = 9
- name - dateOfBirth = “03/10/1967”
- address
- studentID Objects
- dateOfBirth
:Student
- name = “D. Hatcher”
- address = “456 Oak Ln.”
- studentID = 2
- dateOfBirth = “12/11/1969”
 What Is an Operation?
❖A service that can be requested from an object
to effect behavior. An operation has a
signature, which may restrict the actual
parameters that are possible.
❖A class may have any number of operations or
none at all.
Student

+ get tuition()
+ add schedule()
Operations + get schedule()
+ delete schedule()
+ has prerequisites()
OO Design

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 Object-oriented design

❖ Abstract Data Types (ADT)

❖ Divide project into a set of cooperating classes
❖ Each class has a very specific functionality
❖ Think of a class as similar to a data type
❖ Class can be used to create instances of objects
 Mapping the real world to software

Real world Abstraction Software

Attributes Data

Entity

Behaviors methods
 Classes in OO Programming

❖ Separation interface from implementation

What? interface
Visible

Hidden

How? Implementation
 Structure of a class

❖ A class models an entity in real world

❖ A class represents all members of a group of
objects
❖ A class provides a public interface and a private
implementation
❖ Hiding the data and “algorithm” from the user
Structure of a class

public
(methods)

private
(data)

class
Class Identifying

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 Designing process

❖ Identifying classes
❖ Identifying behaviors
▪ Decide whether behavior is accomplised by a single class
or through the collaboration of a number of "related"
classes
▪ Static behavior: behavior always exists
▪ Dynamic behavior: depending of when/how a behavior is
invoked, it might or might not be legal
 Example:

❖ Game “Tetris”:
▪ possible classes:
• Board,
• Block (square block),
• Piece (composed of several blocks),
• Player (is it necessary?),
• Line of Blocks
 Example:

❖ e-Shopping Website
▪ possible classes:
• Product
– Attributes: Name, ID, price, status, manufacturer’s name,
images, technical description.
• Product Category:
– Attributes: Name
• Manufacturer
– Attributes: Name, Country, Website
 Example

❖ Website “National Foolball Competition”

▪ People: Player, Referee, Coach, Team Manager…
▪ Places: Stadium, City…
▪ Things: Ball (is it necessary?)
▪ Organizations: Team, National Football Association
▪ Concepts: Half, Round, Season…
▪ Events: Match (is this a concept or an event?), Goal
 Class

❖A class should:
▪ be a real-world entity
▪ be important to the discussion of the
requirements
▪ have a crisply defined boundary
▪ make sense; (i.e. can identify the attributes and
behaviors)
▪ closely related
 Object

❖ An “object” is an instance of a class

▪ Just like a “variable” is an instance of a specific data
type
❖ We can zero or more variables (or objects) in our
programs
/* DataType Variable*/
int x;
Fraction f;
 Class and object

❖ A class is a blueprint for an object.

❖ When you instantiate an object, you use a class as
the basis for how the object is built.
❖ A class can be thought of as a sort of higher-
level data type. For example:
myClass myObject;
 Class and object

❖ Each object has its own attributes and

behaviours .
❖ A class defines the attributes and behaviours
that all objects created with this class will
possess.

❖ Classes are pieces of code.

❖ Objects are created from classes,
Class declaration

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 Class declaration in C++

class <Name of the class>

{
public:
<public attributes and methods>
private:
<private attributes and methods>
};
 Scope

❖ private: only visible to methods of the class

itself.
❖ public: can be use from inside of the class or
any client outside
 An example

class CDate
{
public:
CDate();
CDate(int iNewDay, int iNewMonth, int iNewYear);
int getDay(); // return day
int getMonth(); // return month
int getYear(); // return year
...
private:
int m_iDay, m_iMonth, m_iYear;
};
 Scope resolution operator ::

❖ Tell the compiler the method or attribute belongs

to a certain object

For example:
CDate::getDay()
CDate::getMonth()
Separation declaration from definition

//keep in 1 file // header file .h

class CDate class CDate
{ {
public: public:
int getDay(); int getDay();
private:
private: ...
... };
};
// implementation file .cpp
int CDate::getDay() int CDate::getDay()
{ {
return m_iDay; return m_iDay;
} }
 How to use the Date class

int main()
{
CDate today(20, 10, 2008);
CDate tomorrow, someDay;

//can I do this?
cout << today.m_iMonth; //!!!
//how about
cout << today.getMonth();
...
}
 Encapsulation and data hiding

❖ Encapsulation:
▪ A C++ class provides a mechanism for packaging data
and the operations that may be performed on that data
into a single entity
❖ Information Hiding
▪ A C++ class provides a mechanism for specifying access
 Taxonomy of member functions

❖ The types of member functions may be

classified in a number of ways. A common
taxonomy:
▪ Constructor/Initalization: an operation that
creates a new instance of a class
▪ Observer: an operation that reports the state of
the data members (aka Accessors, Getters)
▪ Mutator: an operation that changes the state of
the data members of an object
▪ Iterator: an operation that allows processing of
all the components of a data structure
sequentially
 Taxonomy of member functions

❖ Constructor/Initalization: an operation that

creates/initalize a new instance of a class
▪ Constraint Checking methods?
 Taxonomy of member functions

❖ Observer: an operation that reports the state

of the data members
▪ Provides value of an internal attribute
▪ Provides some value calculated from internal
attributes only
▪ Provides some value calculated from internal
attributes AND some external parameter(s)
 Taxonomy of member functions

❖ Mutator: an operation that changes the state

of the data members of an object
▪ Updates value of an internal attribute
▪ Transforms values of internal attributes
▪ Constraint Checking methods?
 Taxonomy of member functions

❖ Iterator: an operation that allows processing of

all the components of a data structure
sequentially
 Exercises

❖ List member functions of the following classes:

▪ Date
▪ Fraction with numerator and denominator
▪ Employee
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