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Paper (refereed) Information Systems Curriculum

Recommended Citation: Stix, A and M F Courtney. How the Object-Oriented Revolution Was Won. In The Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference 2000, v 17 (Philadelphia): §110.

How the Object-Oriented Revolution Was Won

Refereed

Allen Stix    [a1] [a2]
School of Computer Science & Information Systems
Pace University    [u1] [u2]
Pleasantville, New York, USA    [c1] [c2]

Mary F. Courtney    [a1] [a2]
School of Computer Science & Information Systems
Pace University    [u1] [u2]
Pleasantville, New York, USA    [c1] [c2]

The authors conduct a whimsical interview with an historian of computing at ISECON 2050 and learn why it took Java to vault mainstream systems construction over the barriers to objects. The historian explains that for object-oriented systems analysis and design to feel natural, a good amount of direct experience with objects is requisite. Coding is the only activity that provides actual experience with the nature and properties of objects. Java, much more than C++, expedites this because: (i) Java's libraries supply enforced demonstrations, and (ii) Java, because it disallows free functions, requires verbs to be nouns. The serious intent of this paper is to explain why the switch to Java, even from C++, is worth the effort. Programming is the place for acquainting students with objects. This is one of the chief reasons for including programming in the curriculum for Information Systems.

Keywords: Java, object-oriented programming, OOP, curriculum

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