I was reading this paper from Apple:
http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/cocoa/conceptual/OOP_ObjC/OOP_ObjC.pdf
where it talks about OOP which I never heard before. I graduated in computer science around 1991, before OOP becoming popular, so the use of OOP was merely defining some classes, and then calling the methods, that’s it. Objects didn’t interact with each other — everything was done in a main function that calls the various objects’ methods.
Until I read the paper above, which talks about Interface, dynamic typing, dynamic binding, that an object can send another object a message, even before the second object is invented — only the “interface”, or the message, needs to be well defined. The second object can have unknown data type as of right now, to be invented in the future, but all it needs to do is to understand the “message”.
So this way, each object interacts with one another, and each object may have a list of “outlets” which are the relationship it has with the outside world, and the object will interact with the outlets by sending them messages, and those objects, when getting a message, can in turn send back a messages to the sender. (send a message to an object = call the object’s method).
I think this sort of opened my eye for OOP, much more than even the Design Pattern book by the Gang of Four. The Apple paper didn’t cite any source, but I wonder it might follow some methodology from a book? Does any OOP book give a good, solid foundation in OOP which is what the Apple paper is talking about?
Nice introduction to OOP is “Coffee maker” (and quite short).
I personally really enjoy reading “Object thinking”.
Another interesting book is “Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software”.
Next in my to-read list is “Object Design: Roles, Responsibilities, and Collaborations”.