What is object-oriented programming?

In OOP, you model real-world or conceptual things as objects — each with properties (data) and methods (functions that act on that data). A "Car" object, for example, might have properties like color and speed, and methods like accelerate() or brake().

The four core principles

• Encapsulation: bundling data and the methods that operate on it together, hiding internal details from outside code
• Inheritance: a new class can reuse and extend the behavior of an existing class
• Polymorphism: different classes can be used through a common interface, each responding to the same method call in its own way
• Abstraction: exposing only the necessary details of an object, hiding complex implementation

Languages like Java, C++, Python, and C# all support OOP, though some languages favor other paradigms, like functional programming, instead.