The type/object distinction and possible synthesis of OOP and imperative programming languages
Ned Batchelder
ned at nedbatchelder.com
Thu Apr 18 22:10:07 EDT 2013
On 4/18/2013 9:24 PM, Mark Janssen wrote:
>> One of the nice things about OOP is it means so many different things to
>> different people. All of whom believe with religious fervor that they
>> know the true answer.
> Here's a simple rule to resolve the ambiguity. Whoever publishes
> first, gets to claim origin of a word and its usage, kind of like a
> BDFL. The rest can adapt around that, make up their own word, or be
> corrected as the community requires.
>
You won't solve the problem of confusing, ambiguous, or conflicting
terminology by making up a rule. "Object-oriented" means subtly
different things to different people. It turns out that computing is a
complex field with subtle concepts that don't always fit neatly into a
categorization. Python, Java, Javascript, Ruby, Smalltalk, Self, PHP,
C#, Objective-C, and C++ are all "object-oriented", but they also all
have differences between them. That's OK. We aren't going to make up a
dozen words as alternatives to "object-oriented", one for each language.
You seem to want to squeeze all of computer science and programming into
a tidy hierarchy. It won't work, it's not tidy. I strongly suggest you
read more about computer science before forming more opinions. You have
a lot to learn ahead of you.
--Ned.
More information about the Python-list
mailing list