JWare

JCare
Professional Services
Technical Support
Training & Education
Library
Client Connection

News & Events

Partners

Contact

Online User Library

Object-Oriented Technology:
Don't throw away the car when all you need is a new stereo

When you want to upgrade your car's radio to a complete sound system, you don't throw away the car. You change the stereo deck. If that produces the sound you're looking for, you're done; if not, you may change the speakers. It's all done using small parts, or objects.

Object-oriented technology is similar to the car stereo analogy. It's all about the system's substance. An object is a "black box" which receives and sends messages. The object actually contains code (which can be Java, C++, Smalltalk or another language that directs the process) and data (which organizes your business's information into pieces that the system can utilize). In traditional programming, the code and data have been kept separate. In object-oriented programming, the code and data are merged into a single thing, an object. This has far-reaching effects on how your company conducts business both today and in the future.

Using technology investments to support business directions
Investments in information technology that you make today have a direct impact on your business's time, budget, resources, and performance tomorrow. In purchasing or creating your own in-house systems, you must plan not only for today but also for the future. You want a system that is going to be able to scale with your business. The system must have great performance and reliability. It must be flexible, to change with your changing business needs. A system that capitalizes on an object-oriented architecture, programming and technology inherently sustains your business's requirements.

Building for the future
When looking for the best solution for your organization, you cannot ignore where your company is looking to take the business in both the short term and long term. Object-oriented programming provides a modular technology foundation that adapts to your current and future business needs.

Object-oriented programming lets your system change and grow with your business by isolating specific business functions. Each business function is a little "black box" that performs a specific task and passes the information to the next task. If you need to make a change to any function, only that little black box needs to change.

Building to scale
Here's an example. In the early days of your business, you may have been able to get by with a single server for your database, application and client interface, but now you have 300,000 representatives and need to process 50,000 to 100,000 volume transactions per month. Your two-year-old system takes forever to process and report the critical information needed to take your business to the next level.

If that system had been architected using object-oriented programming and today's technology, it would be able to use multiple servers, not only for the database and application, but for the application itself. Tasks to run a commission cycle, process orders, update lineage changes, and track prospects could all run at the same time, with the same data on multiple servers. When the system knows that a new server is available, it could auto-load the balance. The object-oriented technology makes full use of your network's structural design.

Building to perform
It would have been great if we had the capability to develop object-oriented systems twenty years ago. We would have been able to run processes, such as commissions, in real time. We would have been able to calculate disbursements at the end of the order process, rather than being forced to launch a two, three, or even four-day commission run at the end of the month. Using today's object-oriented technology, we have the capability to run processes simultaneously on different processors or even completely different servers. This could cut down a 25,000-volume transaction per month run from four hours to forty-five minutes or less.

Building for change
Let's not kid anyone: business models change. Look around the industry: companies are setting up kiosks, taking orders over the Internet, letting potential customers place orders directly with the company. Business models are fluid, and so should be your company's software package(s).

One of the primary rules of object-oriented programming is that the user of an object should never need to know the code inside the object, only its business function. With object-oriented technology, changes to the business model only affect the corresponding business function. Changing a small component only affects that component.

Using an object-oriented approach, the system is only sending data and receiving information from the object. All of the functionality "inside the little black box" has already been thoroughly coded, tested, and implemented in the original release. Thus, the capability to develop new programs is increased, because the code in the object is guaranteed to work. If properly used, this method of software development improves the maintenance, reusability, and modifiability of software.

A major change (for example, major interface changes) probably will still result in major changes to the software. What object-oriented technology tries to avoid is a little change in requirements that results in major software changes, or the ripple effect that can occur. Because those ripple effects can have a direct impact on your bottom line, object-oriented approaches may become a critical decision factor for your business's future technology directions.

Summary
In summary, object-oriented programming offers a new and powerful model for developing the computer software. Objects, the little "black business boxes," are the building blocks upon which to build your business. Your business changes, grows, performs, and so should your software.