Devops Journey

Understanding Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) with a Real-Life Story!

Faizan Shaikh's photo
Faizan Shaikh
·

3 min read

Imagine a company where visitors come in daily. The receptionist, Sarah, is responsible for collecting their details. But there’s a problem—there’s no structured format! Some visitors provide only their name, some leave their company details, and others give a random mix of information. When the management tries to analyze visitor data, they find it chaotic and inconsistent.

The Solution? A Standard Form!

To bring order, the management introduces a visitor form—a structured format with predefined fields:

Visitor Form Template:

  • Name: _______

  • Phone: _______

  • Inquiry: _______

  • Remarks: _______

Whenever a visitor arrives, Sarah prints out a blank form and asks them to fill it in. Once completed, the form is placed in a catalog, neatly organized for easy access.

Now, let’s translate this into programming terms!

OOP Concepts in Action

1. Class: The Blueprint

The soft copy of the visitor form is a Class. It defines the structure but doesn't store actual data.

class VisitorForm:
    name = None
    phone = None
    inquiry = None

This is just a template. It tells us what information we should collect, but it doesn’t store any actual visitor details.

2. Object: The Real-World Instance

Each hard copy of the form filled by a visitor is an Object. Objects store real data.

tom = VisitorForm()  # Creating an object (an instance of the class)

Now, Tom’s details can be added to his form (object):

tom.name = "Tom K"
tom.phone = 1111
tom.inquiry = "Is Python course available?"

Each object (like Tom’s) is stored at a specific memory address in RAM. Instead of keeping scattered variables for each visitor, we store all their data neatly inside a single object!

Why Objects Are Powerful?

Before OOP, we might store visitor details like this:

tom_name = "Tom K"
tom_phone = 1111
tom_inquiry = "Is Python course available?"

The issue? These values are stored separately, making data retrieval inefficient. With objects, all related details are stored together at a single memory address, making access and updates much faster.

print(tom.name)  # Output: Tom K
print(tom.phone)  # Output: 1111

3. Methods: Actions Performed by Objects

Objects don’t just store data—they can also perform actions using methods (functions inside classes).

For example, what if Sarah wants to send an SMS to a visitor?

class VisitorForm:
    def __init__(self, name, phone, inquiry):
        self.name = name
        self.phone = phone
        self.inquiry = inquiry

    def sendSMS(self):
        print(f"Sending SMS to {self.phone}...")

Now, Tom can receive an SMS with a simple command:

tom = VisitorForm("Tom K", 1111, "Python course available?")
tom.sendSMS()  # Output: Sending SMS to 1111...

Here, self refers to the specific object (like Tom) that calls the method, allowing it to access its own data.

4. Getter & Setter Methods

Methods allow controlled access to an object’s data.

Getter Method: Retrieve Data

def getDetails(self):
    return f"Visitor: {self.name}, Inquiry: {self.inquiry}"

Setter Method: Update Data

def setPhone(self, phone):
    self.phone = phone

Example Usage:

tom.setPhone(2222)  # Updates phone number
print(tom.getDetails())  # Output: Visitor: Tom K, Inquiry: Python course available?

Final Thoughts: Why Use OOP?

✅ Organized Data Storage - All related data is stored in one place. ✅ Reusability - The same class template can create multiple objects. ✅ Encapsulation - Methods allow controlled access to data. ✅ Scalability - As the system grows, adding features is easier with objects.

Conclusion: OOP helps us structure real-world problems into manageable code. Just like a well-organized visitor form makes data handling easier, classes and objects streamline programming!

So next time you hear Object-Oriented Programming, think about Sarah’s visitor form—it’s OOP in action! 🚀

#OOP #Programming #Python #Coding #DevOps

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