We have two friends. They're married. She's a keen advocate of Object Oriented Programming and he can't stand the approach. So take them to the pub, buy them a couple of drinks each, mention OO programming and watch the feathers fly ;-)

Seriously, Object Oriented Programming has its place - and there are places it should not be used. Along the base of this diagram you'll find the size of application from tiny to huge, and on the left axis is the easy of writing - from trivial to impossible. The orange line represents "single block" code, the blue line is structured coding, and the black line is object oriented.

• With a single block of code, you can start coding very quickly and easily, but you'll rapidly find that it gets impractical to manage what you're doing. Like writing an article with no paragraphs.

• Structured coding is like writing a short story - there's a bit of an overhead, but the text is broken into paragraphs and it's easy enough to write and maintain up to a certain point.

• And with Object Oriented programming, you can compare with a complete book. There's considerable overhead in the initial setup, but the scheme is expandable far beyond the small and medium sized application - it works really well for something substantial in size


Which of our friends is 'right' in their argument? They both are - she writes parts of large systems, and he writes short system administration utilities.
(written 2009-05-11)

 H108 - Objects in PHP
  [3211] Computer Graphics in PHP - World (incoming data) to Pixel (screen) conversion - (2011-03-24)
  [3210] Catchable fatal error in PHP ... How to catch, and alternative solutions such as JSON - (2011-03-22)
  [3142] Private and Public - and things between - (2011-01-22)
  [2922] Getting the OO design write - with PHP a example - (2010-08-14)
  [2921] Does copying a variable duplicate the contents? - (2010-08-14)
  [2774] PHP - Object Oriented Design in use - (2010-05-21)
  [2741] What is a factory? - (2010-04-26)
  [2717] The Multiple Inheritance Conundrum, interfaces and mixins - (2010-04-11)
  [2680] Static class members in PHP - a documented example - (2010-03-16)
  [2641] Object Oriented Programming in PHP - (2010-02-19)
  [2632] Shipping a test harness with your class in PHP - (2010-02-12)
  [2435] Serialization - storing and reloading objects - (2009-10-04)
  [2434] Abstract classes, Interfaces, PHP and Java - (2009-10-03)
  [2380] Object Oriented programming - a practical design example - (2009-08-27)
  [2172] PHP4 v PHP5 - Object Model Difference - (2009-05-11)
  [2171] Cleaning up redundant objects - (2009-05-11)
  [2160] PHP - getclass v instanceof - (2009-05-07)
  [1925] Introduction to Object Oriented Programming - (2008-12-06)
  [1820] Sorting objects in PHP - (2008-10-04)
  [1819] Calling base class constructors - (2008-10-03)
  [1682] Accounts in PHP - an OO demo - (2008-06-19)
  [1535] OO PHP demonstration - comparing objects and more - (2008-02-08)
  [1217] What are factory and singleton classes? - (2007-06-04)
  [1153] Object Oriented Model - a summary of changes from PHP4 to PHP5 - (2007-04-18)
  [1027] Cue the music, I'm happy. - (2007-01-09)
  [836] Build on what you already have with OO - (2006-08-17)
  [720] Planning a hotel refurb - an example of a Gant chart in PHP - (2006-05-14)
  [656] Think about your design even if you don't use full UML - (2006-03-24)
  [485] North, Norther and Northest - PHP 5 Objects - (2005-11-04)
  [421] Don't repeat code - use loops or functions - (2005-08-21)
  [343] Should I use structured or object oriented? - (2005-06-10)
  [205] PHP5 lets you say no - (2005-02-07)
  [124] PHP v Java - (2004-11-20)
  [67] Object Oriented Programming in PHP - (2004-09-29)

J706 - Java - Objects and Classes
  [2651] Calculation within objects - early, last minute, or cached? - (2010-02-26)
  [2616] Defining a static method - Java, Python and Ruby - (2010-02-01)
  [2422] Looking inside Java classes - javap and javadoc - (2009-09-25)
  [1906] Long, Longer, Longest in Java - (2008-11-25)
  [1500] First Class Java. First step and moving forward. - (2008-01-10)
  [1296] An example of Java Inheritance from scratch - (2007-08-08)
  [1163] A better alternative to cutting and pasting code - (2007-04-26)
  [477] Class, static and unbound variables - (2005-10-25)
  [96] Variable Scope - (2004-10-22)

C231 - C and C based languages - Introduction to C++
  [3250] C++ - how we teach the language and the concepts behind the language - (2011-04-17)
  [3069] Strings, Garbage Collection and Variable Scope in C++ - (2010-11-25)
  [3053] Make - automating the commands for building and installing - (2010-11-16)
  [3052] Getting your C++ program to run - (2010-11-15)
  [2845] Objects and Inheritance in C++ - an easy start - (2010-07-01)
  [2004] Variable Scope in C++ - (2009-01-22)
  [928] C++ and Perl - why did they do it THAT way? - (2006-11-16)
  [336] Targetted Advertising - (2005-06-05)
  [318] Choosing a theme - (2005-05-20)
  [317] Programming languages - a comparison - (2005-05-20)

Q907 - Object Orientation and General technical topics - Object Orientation: Design Techniques
  [3454] Your PHP website - how to factor and refactor to reduce growing pains - (2011-09-24)
  [3260] Ruby - a training example that puts many language elements together to demonstrate the whole - (2011-04-23)
  [3085] Object Oriented Programming for Structured Programmers - conversion training - (2010-12-14)
  [3063] Comments in and on Perl - a case for extreme OO programming - (2010-11-21)
  [2977] What is a factory method and why use one? - Example in Ruby - (2010-09-30)
  [2953] Turning an exercise into the real thing with extreme programming - (2010-09-11)
  [2889] Should Python classes each be in their own file? - (2010-07-27)
  [2878] Program for reliability and efficiency - do not duplicate, but rather share and re-use - (2010-07-19)
  [2865] Relationships between Java classes - inheritance, packaging and others - (2010-07-10)
  [2785] The Light bulb moment when people see how Object Orientation works in real use - (2010-05-28)
  [2747] Containment, Associative Objects, Inheritance, packages and modules - (2010-04-30)
  [2523] Plan your application before you start - (2009-12-02)
  [2501] Simples - (2009-11-12)
  [2327] Planning! - (2009-08-08)
  [2170] Designing a heirarcy of classes - getting inheritance right - (2009-05-11)
  [1538] Teaching Object Oriented Java with Students and Ice Cream - (2008-02-12)
  [1528] Object Oriented Tcl - (2008-02-02)
  [1435] Object Oriented Programming in Perl - Course - (2007-11-18)
  [1224] Object Relation Mapping (ORM) - (2007-06-09)
  [1047] Maintainable code - some positive advice - (2007-01-21)
  [831] Comparison of Object Oriented Philosophy - Python, Java, C++, Perl - (2006-08-13)
  [747] The Fag Packet Design Methodology - (2006-06-06)
  [534] Design - one name, one action - (2005-12-19)
  [507] Introduction to Object Oriented Programming - (2005-11-27)
  [236] Tapping in on resources - (2005-03-05)
  [80] OO - real benefits - (2004-10-09)

P213 - Perl - Creating your own Classes
  [3098] Learning Object Orientation in Perl through bananas and perhaps Moose - (2010-12-21)
  [3059] Object Orientation in an hour and other Perl Lectures - (2010-11-18)
  [2969] What does blessing a variable in Perl mean? - (2010-09-24)
  [2877] Further more advanced Perl examples - (2010-07-19)
  [2834] Teaching examples in Perl - third and final part - (2010-06-27)
  [1864] Object Oriented Perl - First Steps - (2008-11-01)
  [1664] Example of OO in Perl - (2008-06-03)
  [1320] Perl for Larger Projects - Object Oriented Perl - (2007-08-25)
  [983] Blessing in Perl / Member variable in Ruby - (2006-12-14)
  [975] Answering ALL the delegate's Perl questions - (2006-12-09)
  [246] When to bless a Perl variable - (2005-03-15)
  [227] Bellringing and Programming and Objects and Perl - (2005-02-25)

Y106 - Object Oriented Python
  [3436] Moving from scripting to Object Orientation in Python - (2011-09-13)
  [3399] From fish, loaves and apples to money, plastic cards and BACS (Perl references explained) - (2011-08-20)
  [2604] Tips for writing a test program (Ruby / Python / Java) - (2010-01-29)
  [2017] Python - a truly dynamic language - (2009-01-30)
  [1348] Screw it or Glue it? Access to Object variables - a warning - (2007-09-12)
  [1306] Python class rattling around - (2007-08-16)
  [900] Python - function v method - (2006-10-20)
  [834] Python makes University Challenge - (2006-08-15)

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Crossrefering documents with uniqueness and inconsistency issues - PHP proof of concept demo
Making Regular Expressions easy to read and maintain
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