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A Level Computer Science

Topic 6: Introducing OOP

William Marsh
School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science
Queen Mary University of London
Aims
• What and why OOP?
• The problem of software development
• OOP concepts
• Data hiding
• Class and instances
• Using classes in Python
• Using classes – example of files
• ‘Methods’ versus functions
• Create a new class in Python
What is OOP and
Why?
What is OOP?
• Object-oriented programming IS
• An idea for organising programs

• Object-oriented programming IS NOT

• A completely different type of programming
• Builds on if, while, functions etc
• Necessary: remember it’s all assembly code eventually

• At first, OOP is more complex

Why Organise S/W?
• Hard to organise large problem
• Work must be shared across a team
• Imagine building a house with no plan?

• Advantages claimed for OOP organisation

• Better reuse of code in libraries
• Software easier to change
• OOP very popular for Graphical User Interface
(GUI) libraries
Software Organisation So
Far
• Break overall program
into functions Function def

Function def
• Discussion: is it obvious
what functions to choose? Function def

Main program
• Aside: more complex • Initialise
organisation possible variable
• Call functions
Exercise 1.1 (and 1.2)
• Use google to find an example of a failed
software project in the UK
• How late?
• How much money wasted?
OO Concepts
Data Hiding – Abstraction
• Different ways to represent complex data
• Example: shopping list
• List of pairs: (item string, amount integer)
• Dictionary: map from item to amount required

• Data hiding principle: the user should not know

the representation
• It may change
• Instead, provide functions (or ‘operations’)
What's a CLASS – I
• A box with buttons (functions or operations or
methods)

class Parameters in
def f1 Return value

def f2

• A class is just a template

Words
• Method: this word is used in OOP theory
• Function: Python has these, as do other
programming languages
• Operation: this word is used on OO analysis
What's a CLASS – II
• A box containing data (variables)

class Parameters in
def f1
Return value
data
def f2

• A class is just a template

Picture of Classes
Data hiding:
• A class has
• Hide the attributes
• A name
• Use the operations
• Attributes (i.e. variables)
• Operations (i.e. functions)

Friend Class name

name
Attributes
phone number
setNumber
sendText Operations
Object: An Instance of a
Class
• A class is a template
• An object is a particular instance of a class
• Different data (attribute values)
• Same code

alice: Friend bob: Friend

name = "Alice" name = "Bob"
phone number = 123 phone number = 456
Exercise 2.1 – Shopping
Functions
• Recall the shopping list representations:
• List of pairs: (item string, amount integer)
• Dictionary: map from item to amount required

• Suggest the functions that would be useful

• What do you do with a shopping list?
Using Objects in
Python
You already do this
Example: Files
file object
import io

f = open("hello.txt", 'w') function or

f.write("This is a line\n") method
f.close()
method

• There is not a ‘file’ class; the object is of one of

several classes
Example: Two Files
f and g are
import io
different objects
f = open("hello.txt", 'w')
g = open("bye.txt", 'w')
f.write("Hello to you\n")
g.write("Good bye. Go away.\n")
f.write("You are welcome\n")
g.close()
f.close()
What Data is in the File
Object?
• We are not told: details probably depend on the
OS

• File name
• Location of file on disk
• Buffer of text

• Each file object must have different data

Function and Method
Syntax object
strng1 = "hello william" dot
n = len(string1)
function name
strng2 = strng1.upper()

• ‘str’ is a class class name

• str(99) – returns a string object
function name
• Equivalent syntax
str.upper(strng1)
Functions and Methods
strng1 = "hello william" object
n = len(string1)
function name
strng2 = strng1.upper()

• The strng1 object has a class

• Take the upper() function from this class
• Call it with the object as the first parameter
• … add any further parameters
Lists are Objects
>>> lst = [1,2,3,4]
>>> lst.append(99)
>>> lst
[1, 2, 3, 4, 99]

>>> lst = [1,2,3,4]

• The list is changed >>> type(lst)
<class 'list'>
• Append 99 to the list lst
>>> list.append(lst, 99)
• Nothing is returned >>> lst
[1, 2, 3, 4, 99]
Exercise 3.1 and 3.2
• Look at String and List method in the Python
documentation
• Try some out.
Define New Classes
in Python
This bit is new
Declaring A Class
• A person class with two functions
class Person:
def setAge(self, a):
self.age = a

def getAge(self):
return self.age

• setAge() function sets an attribute age

• Remember: in Python variables are initialised, not
declared
Using The Person Class
• Create instance of the Person class
• i.e. people!
Use class name to
construct new objects
p1 = Person()
p2 = Person()

p1.setAge(21)
print(p1.getAge())
p2.setAge(101)
print(p2.getAge())
What is ‘self’?
• The name self is used by convention
• Not a key word
• Always use it

• Explanation (not essential)

• In the ‘dot’ syntax, object is first parameter
• … so function called with method syntax needs at least
one parameter
Exercise 4.1 – Person
Class
• Enter the Person class
• The class declaration and the ‘using code’ go in the
same file

• Add another attribute:

• What else can you know about a person?
Problem – Initialising
Attributes
• What happens if we get the age before it is set?

p1 = Person()
p2 = Person()

print(p1.getAge())
p1.setAge(21)

• Need to initialise the attributes

Constructor
• Constructor is a special function
• Called using class name

class Person:
def __init__(self, n):
self.name = n
self.age = 0

def setAge(self, a):

self.age = a

def getAge(self):
return self.age
Using a Constructor
• Constructor called using class name

p1 = Person("Alice")
p2 = Person("Bob")

print(p1.getAge())
p1.setAge(21)

• If you do not define a __init__ the default

constructor creates an empty object
Exercise 4.2 – Add a Person
Constructor
• Add a constructor to the person class
• Initialise all the attributes
• Either to default values
• Or to values given as parameters

• Write code to use the class

Working With Many
Source
• Module – fileFiles
containing Python definitions
• Contains function and class definitions

• Guideline
• Write each class in a separate file
• Filename same as class name
• Import:

from Person import Person

Summary
• Object-oriented programming is a way to
organise more complex programs
• Learn the syntax and behaviour
• Learn how to use OO to organise a program

• A class is a template for an object. An object has

• Attributes: what is unique about this object?
• Operation: what can you do to it?
• Data and code are organised together
• Supports data (information) hiding – abstraction