The Tao of Objects

The Tao of Objects is a clearly written, user-friendly guide to object-oriented programming (OOP), the new programming technique that has taken the computer industry by storm. OOP is not only a new way to write programs, but also a new way to think about how programs interact with the world. It is both a method, and a philosophy.

The Tao of Objects provides programmers new to OOP with a complete look at this fascinating technology. Practical, no-nonsense explanations detail the key concepts underlying OOP, showing you how to use them to simplify the design, maintenance, and evolution of your computer software. You'll find complete descriptions of encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, and dynamic style, plus helpful diagrams and interesting code examples that illustrate the concepts in real-life applications.

In addition, The Tao of Objects includes an appendix of interesting developments in OOP and a handy reference of tools to help you pursue OOP. All code examples are written in C++ and Turbo Pascal^™.

• Why This Book Is For You
• Introduction by Bruce Eckel
• Chapter 1: Great Journeys, Single Steps
• About the Book
• Choose Your Language
• Objects and Actions
• A World of Objects
• About Inheritance
• Building a New Type
• Inheritance Among OOP Languages
• Overriding Behavior and Data
• About Polymorphism
• Static and Dynamic Binding
• Dynamic Programming
• Another View
• Object Types
• About Types
• Constructors and Destructors
• The Importance of Being Constructed
• Messages
• Chapter 2:Thinking in Objects
• Complex Numbers
• Operator Overloading in C++
• Types, Not Individuals
• How Complex Should Objects Be?
• Base and Abstract Types
• Abstract vs. Concrete
• Planning for Change
• The Trickle-Up Theory
• Objects, Classes, and Types
• Chapter 3: Extending the System
• Sketching Your Objects
• Reusing Code
• Choosing a First Application
• Checkers and Chess
• Black Art
• Chaos Theory and Strange Attractors
• Mathematic Attraction
• Inheriting Strange Attractors
• Display Window
• State Space
• Model = State Generator
• Where OOP Works Best
• Extending Systems
• Chapter 4: Shaping the System
• Dynamics
• Constructors, Destructors, and Responsibility
• Managing From the Bottom Up
• Tracing Through Pointers
• Some Advantages
• Chapter 5: Dynamic Style
• Expert Systems
• OOP in AI
• Frames vs. Objects
• Finding the Objects
• Programming for Change
• Chapter 6: An Object-Oriented Neural Network
• Objects and Networks
• Deriving New Networks
• Data Lists and Events
• Chapter 7: Designing With Objects
• An Alternative to Chaos
• What's Wrong With This Picture?
• Programming for Change
• Object-Oriented System Design
• The Five Stages of Object Design
• More on Object Discovery
• An Example
• The Object-Oriented Design System
• The Complexity Test
• OOP and GUI
• Libraries and Frameworks
• Skeptic's Corner
• The Art of Software Design
• Afterword by Zack Urlocker
• Appendix A: Glossary
• Appendix B: References and Resources
• Appendix C: A Concise Comparison of C++, Turbo Pascal, and SmallTalk

One of the best books on OO thinking I've ever read. Recommended.