TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Ashu writes:
> I am writing an article on "Reusing Objects in Programs" and need
> information on this subject.Objects are the programming units used in OOPS.
> Please let me know if there are any White Papers or sites containing
> information on it.
Urk.
There are TONS of documents, papers, books, websites, etc, on
this topic. It is not a trivial topic, and in fact it is not a topic
typically written about by somebody who doesn't have some experience
with it. I could easily build you a stack of books about five feet
high to start on, and that still wouldn't suffice; there are some
things you just have to come to grips with yourself. There's a
conceptual "speed bump" you hit when going from procedural programming
to object-oriented programming.
Now, if you're working with an expert in the field and you're
trying to educate yourself, that's another thing entirely. Where to
start would depend a lot on what programming language you're working
with. Although usually the specific programming language isn't as
important as the concepts, in this case I recommend minimizing the
number of new things you have to learn at once :-).
Smalltalk is one of the oldest practical object-oriented
programming languages, and is probably the best place to start if you
just wanted to learn any object oriented language. While it's not the
first OO language, it seems to have had one of the longest-running and
strongest communities of object-oriented programmers (about twenty or
thirty years...).
However, most of the growth in OOP today is in Java. In many
ways, Java is "C-flavored Smalltalk". James Cooper has several good
books on object oriented programming, including an intro to object
oriented programming in Java. I recommend them for a start. You
should also visit www.bruceeckel.com and download the early chapters
of _Thinking in Java_ (or _Thinking in C++_ if that's the language
you're working in), which has some discussions on the general topic of
object oriented programming.
You should also start learning about the Patterns movement, which
is one of the more important concepts in the OO community in the last
six years. Basically, the OO community recognized that there's
something beyond objects alone that is necessary to develop good code.
They borrowed Patterns from the architectural world. Patterns are a
codified, unified nomenclature for analyzing broad underlying patterns
in how programs are written, and talking about them.
I could recommend a lot more, but frankly I don't have that many
days available.
Steven J. Owens
puff -at- guild -dot- net
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Develop HTML-based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver! (STC Discount.)
**NEW DATE/LOCATION!** January 16-17, 2001, New York, NY. http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.
Take XML and Tech Writing courses online! Our instructor-led courses
(4-6 hrs/wk) give you "hands on" experience at your convenience. STC members
get 20% off! http://www.online-learning.com/index.html.
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
