OOP — The Power of Objects

For some, including developers that are developing traditional applications with traditional languages, Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is just programming with classes, or in our case, function blocks. OOP can be described as a paradigm. OOP is a way of doing things, not just programming with classes. Though classes or function blocks are the backbone of object-oriented programs, there are many principles and features that govern the paradigm.

Compared to the last few chapters, the concepts in this chapter are going to be much more abstract. If you are a traditional PLC programmer who has only worked with basic structured text and ladder logic, the concepts in this chapter will seem difficult to understand and, at times, counterproductive. However, these concepts will help you produce quality, maintainable code. Whereas the last few chapters have been about organizing code, this chapter is about the concepts that govern the design of properly...