Data and Cl***es

[Sionofdarkness]

I know what data is, I mean outside of programming languages, but I read that data and methods make cl***es. I now know what methods are, but what is "data". Is it just everything else, like the syntax and such?

[WingedPanther]

the "data" would be the variables within the cl***. It could be ints, floats, or even other cl***es.

[Sionofdarkness]

There can be cl***es within a cl***? Would that make it a "sub-cl***" (I've never heard the term but I ***ume that would be what they're called).

[WingedPanther]

A subcl*** usually refers to a cl*** that has been derived from another cl***. For example, the cl*** of dogs is a subcl*** of the cl*** of animals. (This terminology might come from set theory). A cl*** within a cl*** might be called a member cl***.

As far as can it be done, yes. Consider your car: it has an engine, wheels, etc. So if you are modeling it with cl***es, you would have an engine cl***, a wheel cl***, and a car cl*** that has an engine and an array of wheels as members. The engine would have information such as the number of cylinders. The wheels would have information such as size and if they're flat or spare. The car would include the manufacturer.

[Sionofdarkness]

Your examples, as always, are very helpful. Can you give an example using a real piece of code as well?

[WingedPanther]

I'm a little rusty on Java, so my example will be in C++.

Code:

cl*** piece
{
  public:
    bool moveTo(x,y);
    bool isThreatend();
    TYPE pieceType();
  private:
    COLOR color;
}

cl*** pawn : piece
{
  private:
    bool EnP***ante;
}

pawn myPawn;
piece myPiece;

myPiece has one data values: myPiece.color
myPawn has two data value: myPawn.color (inherited from the piece cl***) and myPawn.EnP***ante
COLOR is an enumeration for the colors of chess pieces (Black and White).

Now I can make another cl***:

Code:

cl*** Board
{
  public:
    void PlayGame();
  private:
    piece pieces[16][2];
}

This cl*** has 32 pieces as data, each having a color and the ability to move.

Now, with a few more cl***es and some code for the methods, you have a chess program