OOP Terminology

Along with each programming revolution comes a new set of terminology. There are some new OOP concepts, but many have a simple analog in pre-OOP practice.
OOP Term Definition
method Same as function, but the typical OO notation is used for the call, ie, f(x,y) is written x.f(y) where x is an object of class that contains this f method.
send a message Call a function (method).
instantiate Allocate a class/struct object (ie, instance) with new.
class A struct with both data and functions.
object Memory allocated to a class/struct. Often allocated with new.
member A field or function is a member of a class if it's defined in that class
constructor Function-like code that initializes new objects (structs) when they instantiated (allocated with new).
destructor Function-like code that is called when an object is deleted to free any resources (eg, memory) that is has pointers to.
inheritance Defining a class (child) in terms of another class (parent). All of the public members of the public class are available in the child class.
polymorphism Defining functions with the same name, but different parameters.
overload A function is overloaded if there is more than one definition. See polymorphism.
override Redefine a function from a parent class in a child class.
subclass Same as child, derived, or inherited class.
superclass Same as parent or base class.
attribute Same as data member or member field.
2004-07-29