Programming Paradigms 📝

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)¶

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is a coding approach that structures software around objects, which represent real-world entities or ideas. Each object is created from a class, which acts as a blueprint. Objects have attributes (data) and methods (functions) that define how they behave.

The four core principles of OOP are:

1. Encapsulation – Hides an object’s internal details and allows interaction only through defined methods, helping protect data and reduce complexity.

2. Inheritance – Lets one class inherit properties and methods from another, promoting code reuse and reducing repetition.

3. Polymorphism – Allows objects of different classes to be treated as the same type, enabling flexible and dynamic code.

4. Abstraction – Focuses on the essential features of an object while hiding unneeded details, simplifying complex systems.

OOP helps create clean, modular, and reusable code, making it a common choice in modern software development.

Python fully supports OOP and is one of the most widely used OOP languages today.

We explore these ideas in the Deepest Dungeon course. For a refresher, start with the OOP Primer.

Event-Driven Programming¶

Event-driven programming is a style of programming where the program’s behaviour is controlled by events, such as user actions, system signals, or messages from other parts of the system. Instead of running in a set order, the program waits for events and responds to them by running specific code called event handlers.

Key concepts include:

1. Events – Actions or signals that trigger code execution, such as mouse clicks, key presses, file downloads, or timer updates.

2. Event Handlers – Functions or methods that run when a specific event occurs. They define the response to that event.

3. Event Loop – A continuous loop that listens for events and sends them to the right handler when they happen.

Event-driven programming is widely used in GUIs, web development, games, and any system that needs to react to external inputs. It is supported by many languages including JavaScript (for the web), Python (with tools like Tkinter), and C# (with Windows Forms).

MVC Architecture Pattern 📝¶

The Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern is a design approach that makes complex applications easier to manage by breaking them into modular parts. It is an example of modularisation and decomposition.

Parts of the MVC are:

• Model (Data):

  • The model manages the application’s data and rules.

  • It provides the data needed by the view and accepts changes through the controller.

  • In our projects this will consist of a .bd SQLite database file and a datastore.py file that provides getter and setter functions.

• View (User Interface):

  • The view displays the data and defines how the interface looks to the user.

  • It updates when the model changes.

  • In our projects this will be a .ui file created in QtDesigner which produces a Qt User Interface.

• Controller (Logic):

  • The controller handles user input and acts as the bridge between model and view.

  • It uses getter functions to fetch data from the model and update the view

  • It uses setter functions to send user changes back to the model.

  • In our projects this will be the main.py file.

Why use MVC?¶

MVC supports separation of concerns (SoC) by keeping data, user interface, and logic separate. This makes the codebase easier to organise, test, and update—especially when multiple developers are working on different parts of the application.