Microsoft has been in the process of growth and expansion
since its invention, with different languages being implemented to
make it more efficient and able to handle a wider diversity
of work. C# is one of the latest programming languages to
be introduced in Microsoft. Unlike the earlier programming
languages that were closed sources, C sharp is an open
programming source that is easy to use, modern, and purpose-
oriented. C# provides an avenue to reuse existing codes crucial
in enhancing object-oriented concepts such as classes and inheritance.
Class is a common term used when dealing with C# to
refer to specific user-defined data representing the states and
behaviors of particular objects.C#, like any other object-oriented
programming language, is characterized by interdependence among
different classes in which one class either enhances the
functioning of the other or overrides the other. The relationship
between classes in the inheritance concepts brings about the
issue of the base class and the derived class, where the
former refers to the class from which the functionality of
the other class is derived. In developing a personal programming
language, I would have a class as a template for creating
objects within, while the system objects would be the specific
objects fed into the different classes.
Object Oriented Programming, a framework for programming, is
centred around classes, which act as blueprints or patterns
through which objects develop, and objects that exist in reality
are examples of a class. Inheritance is a means to illustrate
the actual connections between both of them. The process of
inheriting the properties and functions of a different class is
known as inheritance. The parent class, sometimes referred to
as the superclass, represents the one from which the methods
and characteristics are derived. And the child class, referred to
as a derived class, receives the parent class's attributes through
inheritance.
Classes in C# offer the concepts of derived and parent
classes, flexibility, and inheritance (Surya and Padmavathi, 2019).
for example, the base class Animal is being inherited by the
derived class Dog. The Animal class's attributes and techniques
have been accessible to the Dog class.
An illustration can be taken: Vehicle is a more general
category that includes cars, buses, and bicycles. This indicates
that all of them have inherited the characteristics of the
vehicles that represent transportation. By using inheritance, we
may describe this connection in programming. An automobile is
a real-world thing. The automobile comprises techniques like
acceleration and brake as well as characteristics like mass
and color. A class is used to build an object. After the
class Car is established, we may use it to generate
objects. An example of object oriented programming or OOP
utilizing C# would be Unity, there are other object oriented
programs and languages as well such as Unreal Engine
which utilizes C++. These two programs use a visual
programming of C# or C++ to create video games and
almost all major game creators use one of these programs
or their own in house form of these visual editors to
write in C# or C++. Almost all software is written with
object oriented programming as it is designed to run in
.NET so no matter if its a video editor, financial
software, or even word processor it is mostly written in
an object oriented programming language such as C# or
C++object oriented programming is essential in smoothly and
easily utilize different classes, system objects, and inheritance.
Classes are interrelated for specific reasons, and usually
logically connected. A class is a group of objects that are
made up of code, where a object is a singular piece of
code, inheritance is when one class derives attributes from
another class. All are equally important and have different
uses within object oriented programming. There are six main
types of relationships between classes: inheritance , realization /
implementation , composition , aggregation , association, and
dependency . The arrows for the six relationships are as
follows:
Then we come to understand the specific content of the
class relationship.
In the six types of relationships, the code structure of the
three types of relationships such as composition , aggregation
, and association is the same as using attributes to store
the references of another class. Therefore, they must be
distinguished by the relationship between the contents.
Inheritance is also called generalization and is used to
describe the relationship between parent and child classes. A
parent class is also called a base class, and a subclass
is also called a derived class.
In the inheritance relationship, the subclass inherits all the
functions of the parent class, and the parent class has all
the attributes, methods, and subclasses. Subclasses contain
additional information in addition to the same information as
the parent class.
For example: buses, taxis, and cars are cars, they all have
names, and they can all be on the road. Based on my
understanding, the relationship between types of classes, system
objects, and inheritance its easily illustrated using a tree type
diagram. The top of the structure is the base, or
superclass, and all branches downward are subclasses. In C#
and the .NET environment, System.Object is the default
superclass. Classes can be definitions, record layouts, report
layouts, internal storage elements passed between functions in a
program, basically whatever the “thing” is that you are
working on. I think of the class as the definition of
this “thing”. It is instantiated with the “new” command, and
the elements (variables, fields, etc.…) are accessible (maybe not
changeable, but at least accessible) to all modules which
inherit the class. When a program is executing, the run
time environment generally provides a set of system tools,
fields, commands, functions, etc. available for programs that
execute in the environment to access, these are system
objects, and are be accessed (inherited) into our programs by
the superclass System.Object. Examples of system tools are
system time, date, environment variables such as .NET
components, error codes, and more. When specifying the
classes, we can direct the inheritance of classes specifically
to system objects by using the “:object” parameter on the
class statement. When programs are executing, the classes that
have been defined and invoked are virtual images of those
definitions and are accessible programmatically.
For example, I need a system to accept input from 4
different sources and merge the input together and create
one master set of data. The data is appointment schedule
data from various scheduling systems, and they all produce a
downloadable text file with the appointment data. I need this
data merged into one master appointment scheduling system –
more flexible than what is available free through google or
iOS. So, I will define a class layout for each of the
4 input sources, and write modules that will open and
read the text files and update an MS Access database of
appointments. yy As an Application Developer for a Construction
Management Company, you create entire enterprise applications,
and you'll need to create software that caters to different
departments like HR, Construction Management, Payroll, and
Adjusters. Types of classes, system objects, and inheritance are
crucial concepts to achieve this goal.
-For HR, custom classes can manage employee data and
payroll information. System objects like FileStream and Stream
Reader classes can read data from CSV files for managing
employee data.
-Construction Management can use custom classes for building
structures, equipment, and tasks. Inheritance can create subclasses
of existing classes to add new features specific to
construction management.
-Payroll can benefit from software to manage employee payroll
data and calculate taxes. Custom classes can manage employee
payment information, and system objects like the Math class
can perform complex calculations.
-Adjusters can use custom classes to manage claims data
and adjuster information. Inheritance can create subclasses of
existing classes to add new functionality, like managing photos
or documents related to a claim.
In conclusion, by applying the concepts of types of classes,
system objects, and inheritance, you can develop software that
meets the unique needs of each department. This software
will be easy to maintain, provide a streamlined user
experience, and improve the overall efficiency of the company.
As an Application Developer, it is crucial to utilize these
concepts to develop software that meets the specific
requirements of the construction management company since many
applications will overlap. For example, within a department,
you'll often run across a scenario where different tables that
share similar fields share similar data sources, but are
accessed by multiple applications, so maintaining clear
relationships is mission-critical in all enterprise-level applications.
OOP has been available in various languages and environments
since the 1960s. I know it is hard to believe as most
books make it sound like OOP is new and the latest
and greatest. My experience has been in organizations where
we have emphasized code reuse through OOP and others
where functional Programming (code and function libraries) have
been used. I wish I could tell that one side wins
easily. We could argue that the development staff and
management play a huge role in the success or failure of
any option. Many of you will bring up the concept of
code reuse as your argument for OO.
