In this week’s post for my blog about the crazy journey of coding, I will be talking about the SOLID principles. The reason I am selecting this topic is because it sets the tone on how to produce quality code. Many times, especially for most students like me, we rush to finish up any coding project we have and don’t live up to the potential that could have been put forth. Therefore, SOLID principle help give a guideline to follow for almost any programmer to outcome the best work.

Well S.O.L.I.D is actually an acronym that stand for five important principle of object-oriented programming by Robert C. Martin, who is commonly known by as Uncle Bob. Now if you have read my first blog you would know that I went to a lot more details on object-oriented programming and I would suggest everyone read up on that before reading this post. The essential purpose of the principles to create software that is easy to maintain and add onto in the future. These principles also help detect any minor problem in the code that could lead to bigger problems and help change around code any time on the code journey. Now let’s get into what these letters actually represent.

The S in the S.O.L.I.D principle stands for Single Responsibility Principle and it states that a class should have one and only one reason to change, essentially meaning a class should only have on job. This concept should be fairly easy to understand as one class should be responsible only for what it represents and all the methods in the class should correspond to that. The second acronym O stands for Open-Closed Principle and it states that objects or software entities should be opened for extension, but closed for modification. What this essentially means is that classes should be able to extend its behavior, but not be modified. This can be done in various different ways such as through inheritance or an interface, but the main guideline is not to modify.

The L in the S.O.L.I.D principle stands for Liskov Substitution Principle and it states that objects of a superclass can be replaced with objects of its subclasses without breaking the software application. What this simplifies too is that the objects of the subclass need to behave in the same way as objects of the superclass. The next acronym I stands for the Interface Segregation Principle and it states that no client should be forced to implement an interface that it doesn’t use or clients shouldn’t depend on methods they don’t use. These interfaces are difficult to maintain and change over time so it is best to avoid. The last acronym in the S.O.L.I.D principles stands for Dependency Inversion Principle and it states that software entities must depend on abstractions not on concretions. This is due to the fact that abstractions change less and so make it easier to change behavior.

I think personally these principles are all key to establishing good solid code. In the future, I expect myself to catch myself when I am coding and follow these principles. With this outlook, I will be able to keep a clear focus from start to finish of a project, and won’t compromise one thing for another. The principles create a clear road to follow and I have benefitted from learning about it.

To read more up on the S.O.L.I.D principles, here are some sources to check out which I have used for research:

View at Medium.com

https://scotch.io/bar-talk/s-o-l-i-d-the-first-five-principles-of-object-oriented-design

From the blog CS@Worcester – Roller Coaster Coding Journey by fbaig34 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

As a student learning new things every day, I chose this topic because I was curious as to what it really entails in computer science as it is one of the topics that directly relates to the course. However, little did I know that it was an abbreviation for 5 important design principles employed in software programming to make software designs more understandable, flexible, and maintainable.  I selected this blog because it explains briefly but detailed about each principle of SOLID and definitions.

This blog talks about who introduced the acronym SOLID and its importance. Also, what it stands for, which are Single-Responsibility, Open-Closed, Liskov Substitution, Interface-Segregation and Dependency-Inversion Principles. Not only does it explain each principle, but explanations are concise and easy to comprehend. It has some links that provides detailed explanations to some of the principles, giving examples that enables one to grasp the concept fully. It also explains why each concept can help developers to build better software and the importance of cohesion and less coupling in software development.

In this blog not only did I learn about the 5 principles, but also learned that it is a part of object-oriented programming that enables one to write a better code that is robust. I learned in Single-Responsibility Principle that classes should have a unique responsibility and that will help reduce complexities, reduce dependency on other classes, ensure readability all in while leading to a stronger cohesion. I believe that the quote “do one thing and do it well” has come into importance in this principle as that will help me avoid fusing too much responsibility on classes in my future programs to make editing of codes easy.

In Open-Closed Principle, I learned that any class written or coded can be used as it is written. It can be extended but can not be modified. However this principle made me understand more about inheritance and polymorphism in the sense that classes can be open if attributes can be added but closed if it is available for use/extended/implemented by other classes. I always used to be a victim of modifying parent classes if there are any errors in my sub classes which should not be the case. Also, this principle improves readability.

When looking at sample programs using interfaces, I never understood why interfaces could not be segregated into one, rather such programs could have more than one interfaces. Also, one class could implement many interfaces. However, this blog made me understand why this is the case in Interface-Segregation Principle that an interface can be broken down into smaller interfaces that are specific rather than making it large. In addition, classes do not need to implement interfaces they do not use.

I will encourage other students to read this blog as it helps understand more concepts in Object-Oriented Programming to make them better programmers.

https://apiumhub.com/tech-blog-barcelona/solid-principles/

From the blog CS@Worcester – GreenApple by afua3254 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

In today’s blog I’m gonna talk about UML diagram. This week in the past we learn how to draw email diagram and how it helps in software developing and designing. We also learned how programmers use this UML diagram to write code in class object and much more. This is directly related to the course materials in and computer science major this block will help the readers how to draw your UML diagrams and then write a code based on that.

i’m gonna start with what is your UML diagrams. UML, which stands for Unified Modeling Language, is a way to visually represent the architecture, design, and implementation of complex software systems. This language helps programmers to visualize the software and helps them developing code.I’m gonna talk about types of your mail diagram there are five component of uml diagram. Class, object, inheritance, Abstraction,and polymorphism. Below show definition of those component.

1. Class –A class in UML diagrams tells the basic idea of the structure and functions of an object used in class.
2. Objects –Objects help us break down large structures and allow us to modulate our behavior.
3. Inheritance –Inheritance is a process by which child/Subclasses inherit the characteristics of their parent/Superclasses.
4. Abstraction –It is the process by which implementation details are hidden from the user end.
5. Polymorphism –It is the method by which functions or entities are to show themselves in more than one foam.

   People chose this because UML Because it helps strategic value of software increases for many companies, the industry looks for techniques to automate the production of software and to improve quality and reduce cost and time-to-market. These techniques include component technology, visual programming, and pattern. The Unified Modeling Language (UML) was designed to respond to these needs. this tool is really easy to use when you understand everything. This diagram helps Support higher-level development concepts such as collaborations, frameworks, patterns and components. And Integrate best practices.

   There are many ways to write or draw UML diagram. You can Draw it by pen or pencil or online tool like visual-paradigm that Han help developer to draw class and object UML diagram FOR FREE.

   we all know that your UML diagram is REALLY difficult to write or draw. I am going to explain what each symbol and sign mean in UML Class diagram. Link below show how UML diagram can be drawn. There are things in there you can look at like UML Class Notation, Class Visibility, class attribution, Class operation, Parameter Directionality, Relationships between classes and much more…

SOURCE: https://www.techtravelhub.com/what-is-uml
https://www.visual-paradigm.com/guide/uml-unified-modeling-language/what-is-uml/

free UML diagram: https://online.visual-paradigm.com/diagrams/solutions/free-class-diagram-tool/

From the blog CS@Worcester – </electrons> by 3electrones and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This blog post is going to be about one of the most important concepts in today’s world of computer science and it is object oriented programming. The reason I chose this topic is because it directly relates to course material and is fundamental for most computer science students.

I’m going to first start of by explaining the basics of objected oriented programming and try to bring some clarity to people who are either new to coding, or want to learn about a different mechanism of coding. Now keep in mind, there are many different ways to code and different approaches one can take on his specific journey. Now to the outside world of coding, they might think it’s all the same. However, specific types of ways to code include objected oriented programming, functional programming, procedural programming, logical programming, etc. I will expand on this later when I talk about my real life experience with some different ways.

Essentially, object oriented programming consists of object which are created by variables and methods. It consists of many objects who are collected and arranged in a specific class for unique uses based on the person’s needs and end goal. The four main concepts of object oriented programming include encapsulation, abstraction, inheritance and polymorphism. Encapsulation is choosing to limit certain object’s information to be seen by everyone in a way to protect information. Usually this is done by using a private access modifier. Abstraction is similar to encapsulation, except it hides properties from everyone in order to make the outside code a lot more simpler and understandable. Not everyone needs to know the broad details behind the object and helps keep things from causing problems on the main front. Inheritance is when a subclass basically inherits its properties and methods from the parent class. The main objective of this is to reduce redundant code and make things easier to use. Polymorphism is when an object can have multiple functions and change methods through the process of overriding and overloading.

Now the most popular programming languages today are objected oriented programming such as Java, Python, C++, etc. Now two languages that I have had experience with was Java and C programming. Java is an object oriented programming language, whereas C is a functional programming language. When I was learning Java, I never understood the big deal with Java and object oriented until I learned C and saw how not as much could be done. Java is much better equipped for real world projects as it makes code very reusable, simpler as well as saving memory. With C functional programming, there was more code to write for accomplishing simple tasks and also there was less security with direct access to memory. Overall, going into the future I am going to improve my java skills and be more equipped with the simple as well advanced concepts of objected oriented programming because of the many types of projects that can be created with it.

To read more info on object oriented programming link which I used as a reference here is one: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/what-is-object-oriented-programming#:~:text=Object%2Doriented%20programming%20has%20four,basics%20of%20a%20computer%20program.

To read more info on different ways to program this is a another link with helpful information: https://careerkarma.com/blog/types-of-coding-languages/

From the blog CS@Worcester – Roller Coaster Coding Journey by fbaig34 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

In my first programming course, I asked my professor how important it is that I learn Object Oriented Programming (OOP). He replied by saying, if I want to program anything, I must learn OOP. Being a freshman then, I took that lightly until I started coding and did not understand what I was doing. It was then that I realized how important it is to learn about OOP and utilize the concept in my program. As students especially beginners in programming, we are so geared towards completing programming assignments, projects etc that we fail to really understand what is used to structure a software program which OOP is basically about.

I selected this specific blog post because it talks about OOP and what it entails. The blog explains OOP as a programming paradigm that relies on the concept of classes and objects. It provides the importance and reason for OOP. It also explains classes, objects, methods, attributes and provided some examples, code snippets and OOP structure. I believe that this is important to know especially for new programmers, to better understand, and help structure their programs as well as others. The blog also explains the principles of OOP which is inheritance, polymorphism, abstraction and encapsulation. It provides code snippets of how each of these principles are seen and employed in codes and programs. It also provides a table that summarizes each concept.

In this blog I learned more on inheritance that it supports reusability. I learned from previous programming class that subclass can inherit all attributes of its parents class and add more attributes but little did I know that subclasses do not have to redefine methods that are already defined in parent class. When a method is called, it goes up to the child parent classes to find where that method was defined. It used to be a common mistake in my programs as I would redefine methods from parent class in subclasses and I never clearly understood why I got errors.

Also, I learned on encapsulation that, it hides the internal software code implementation inside a class, and hides internal data of inside objects. After reading this, I am sure to employ this method to hide information that I would not want to change in my program or code. In the past, I wasn’t able to understand the difference between protected and public codes when I see them, other resources made it very ambiguous for me to understand. However, thus blog provided a simple, easy to understand difference between them. Public codes are those that can be accessed by other classes in the program and protected are those that can only be accessible to subclasses.

I hope beginner programmers will find this blog helpful. For continuous programmers, this blog will help broaden your understanding and knowledge of OOP like it did to me.

https://www.educative.io/blog/object-oriented-programming

From the blog CS@Worcester – GreenApple by afua3254 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.