Object-Oriented Programming with Visual Basic .NET

1.1. Visual Basic .NET and Object-Oriented Programming

Visual Basic .NET is a fully object-oriented programming language, which means it supports the four basic tenets of object-oriented programming: abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism.

We have already conceptualized many of these object-oriented concepts by just looking at the objects that surround us in our everyday lives. Let's look more closely at these terms and see what they actually mean and what they do for developers of object-oriented software.

1.1.1. Abstraction

A radio has a tuner, an antenna, a volume control, and an on/off switch. To use it, you don't need to know that the antenna captures radio frequency signals, converts them to electrical signals, and then boosts their strength via a high-frequency amplification circuit. Nor do you need to know how the resulting current is filtered, boosted, and finally converted into sound. You merely turn on the radio, tune in the desired station, and listen. The intrinsic details are invisible. This feature is great because now everyone can use a radio, not just people with technical know-how. Hiring a consultant to come to your home every time you wanted to listen to the radio would become awfully expensive. In other words, you can say that the radio is an object that was designed to hide its complexity.

If you write a piece of software to track payroll information, you would probably want to create an Employee object. People come in all shapes, sizes, ...