Object-Oriented Concepts

Abstract

Software engineering trends before the mid-1970s followed one basic programming methodology, known as structured programming. The structured paradigm, also called the classical paradigm, offered a very straight-forward approach to software engineering which seemed sufficient for the time. This model provided a simple view of a software product: the product was either operation oriented or data oriented. In the first case, primary attention was paid to the functions performed. In the second, the primary focus was on the information being handled. The picture painted by the classical paradigm seemed uncomplicated in the beginning, but as the field of software engineering grew, a fundamental flaw became apparent. Describing a software application based exclusively on either the operations it was to perform or the data it was to manage was just too simplistic.