T w e n t y S i d e d

A while ago I came across this youtube video, which broadly denounces the programming paradigm known as “Object Oriented Programming”. (OOP)

If you’re not a programmer, you might not get a lot out of it. Author Brian Will is deliberately talking to other coders and so the whole thing is fairly dense with jargon and theory. That’s fine. I’m going to translate bits of it for the purposes of our discussion here. In fact, this series is aimed at non-coders and casual coders who are curious what all the fuss is about and what people are talking about when they say “Object Oriented Programming”.

Depending on who you ask, this video is either obvious, slightly controversial, or deeply heretical. The author certainly seems to believe they are about to say something likely to induce backlash. And indeed, with just over one-third of the people giving the video a thumbs down it does seem to be an unpopular opinion. After watching the introduction I was prepared for the screed of an iconoclastic madman. But by the end I didn’t find anything particularly objectionable. In fact, his final guidelines basically describe the coding style I’ve developed over years of working in both new and old coding paradigms.

I might quibble over a few points, but I think Will is pushing back against a bit of orthodoxy that doesn’t get challenged nearly enough. This debate has popped up now and again over the years and it usually ends with a bunch of people talking past each other and arguing in circles. This is partly because it’s tough to challenge entrenched ideas, but mostly because programming is not one job, but dozens of different jobs.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Object-Oriented Debate Part 1: Many Kinds of Coding”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.