He argues that computers became “media” and were no longer just big adding machines when data and interface became rolled into one. With your newfound perspective on what object-oriented programming is thanks to the videos above, how do you think this changed computation? What does this provide you? How can you see this being useful?
It’s hard for people nowadays, when looking at computers, to consider them as calculating machines. Like many others who use personal computers almost every day, when we chat on Facebook, watch videos, or play video games with our friends, we unknowingly neglect the fact that the screens in front of us were originally designed to compute formulas at a much higher speed. So how do computers transformed from adding machines to the platform, or “media” as Alt describes it, we now can’t live without?
Alt considers it is the popularization of object-oriented programming that laid the foundation for the massive change, as it lets each element under the same environment has its own characteristics and a set of rules to interact with each other, therefore enabling multiple blocks of code to be parallelly executed at the same time. More importantly, because multiple functions are enclosed in a class, and the class can be called by the user without knowing how the inside functions work, it allows different object even from different systems to interact with each other, as Alt quotes “Again, the whole point of OOP is not to have to worry about what is inside an object.”
I think object-oriented programming does make it possible, or at least plays an indispensable role, for computers to become media. Users do not need to be computer engineers to use computers, instead, they only need to know when they hit the power button, the computer turns on; when they move their fingers on the trackpad and press, the mouse will move accordingly and click; when they hit the send button in the email, it will go to the designated receiver. It is about building “trust”, to let the users trust that the computer, the app, the program will act consistently, and all that trust cannot be achieved without object-oriented programming. It’s like driving a car, the driver doesn’t need to know all the engineering aspects of how the car works, he simply needs to trust that when he steps on the gas, the car will move, and when he steps on the brake, the car stops.
Overall, I can’t say the transformation of computers from adding machines to media won’t happen without object-oriented programming but will become much less powerful. As Alt says, “after all, object orientation was never about computing a solution to a problem; rather, it is about creating a believable simulation.” Because of that, people can easily contribute new data and information to this shared platform.
Reference:
Casey Alt, Objects of Our Affection : How Object Orientsation Made Computers a Meduim.
