Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm centered around structuring code into self-contained units called objects. Instead of storing related data across separate, disconnected arrays, OOP bundles data and actions together to model real-world entities cleanly.
Key Building Blocks:
i) Class: The structural blueprint or template (e.g., User or BankAccount). It defines what fields and methods its instances will have.
ii) Object: A concrete instance created from a class residing in memory (e.g., user1).
iii) State (Fields): The data or properties an object holds, such as email, balance, or status.
iv) Behavior (Methods): The actions an object can perform, such as login(), deposit(), or withdraw().
The 4 Core Pillars:
i) Encapsulation: Hides internal data using private fields and exposes controlled access via getters and setters to protect data integrity.
ii) Abstraction: Exposes essential features while hiding underlying implementation details using abstract classes and interfaces.
iii) Inheritance: Enables child classes to reuse properties and methods from a parent class via extends.
iv) Polymorphism: Allows methods to execute differently based on the object invoking them, through method overloading and dynamic overriding.
By enforcing separation of concerns, OOP prevents silent data corruption, eliminates synchronization bugs, and makes large software applications modular, scalable, and easy to maintain.
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