Objects, Classes & Instances

Objects, Classes & Instances


Warmup & Syntax


Warmup

  • In your notebook brainstorm five types of objects and specific instances of that object that are at Turing.

For example:

  • Type of object: Cubby
  • Specific instances:
    • Brian’s cubby
    • Megan’s cubby
    • Sal’s cubby

Classes & Instances

In Ruby:

  • a “type of object” is called a Class
  • “specific objects” are called instances

Defining a Class: Syntax

class NameOfClass
end

Defining a Class: Practice

# ~/turing/1module/classwork/objects_classes_and_instances/fridge.rb
# Notice that `class` is lowercase while `NameOfClass` is CamelCased.

class Fridge
end
# ~/turing/1module/classwork/objects_classes_and_instances/runner.rb
require './fridge'
fridge_1  = Fridge.new
puts "Number 1: #{fridge_1}"

fridge_2   = Fridge.new
puts "Number 2: #{fridge_2}"

require 'pry'; binding.pry

Defining a Class: More Practice

TRY IT: With your pair, define two of the classes that you brainstormed and create instances of those classes.


Attributes & Instance Variables


Attributes in Life

In Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), objects need to be able to model state.

  • What are the attributes that may vary among cubbies?

Attributes in Code

class Fridge
  def initialize(brand, color, temperature, plugged_in, contents)
    @brand       = brand
    @color       = color
    @temperature = temperature
    @plugged_in  = plugged_in
    @contents    = contents
  end
end
fridge_1  = Fridge.new("Maytag", "white", 36, true, ["leftover pizza", "yogurt", "soylent"])
puts "Number 1: #{fridge_1}"

fridge_2   = Fridge.new("", "black", 40, true, [])
puts "Number 2: #{fridge_2}"

require 'pry'; binding.pry

Attributes in Code: Practice

TRY IT: With your pair, create a class Person that has the attributes name, birth_year, language, and alive (which will be a true/false value). Make three instances of the Person class.


Accessing Attributes


Accessing Attribute Values

# in pry, what does this return?
fridge_1.brand

This error tells us exactly what we need to do: define a method brand for the Fridge. However, there’s a shortcut!


Using attr_reader to Access State

class Fridge
  attr_reader :brand,
              :color,
              :temperature,
              :contents

  def initialize(brand, color, temperature, plugged_in, contents)
    @brand       = brand
    @color       = color
    @temperature = temperature
    @plugged_in  = plugged_in
    @contents    = contents
  end
end
  • Run your runner file using ruby runner.rb and see the attr_readers in action

Getter Methods: Practice

TRY IT: With your pair, create attr_readers for the attributes in your Person class.


Defining Methods


Defining Methods in Our Class

Define an add_food method that allows you to put foods in your fridge.

class Fridge
# ... attr_readers & initialize method

  def add_food(food)
    @contents << food
  end
end

Methods: Practice

TRY IT: With your pair, define an age method for Person.


Practice: Library

  • See lesson plan.

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