Bruce Eckel had written a free e-book on the subject a while back, but
after searching it seems you may have to buy the latest version (which
may not be a bad idea), or if you want the 2nd edition it is available
free at:  http://www.janiry.com/bruce-eckel/

MC:

Programming languages such as Java and C++ are object-oriented
programming languages that are much different than procedure-oriented
programming languages such as C, Pascal, and FORTRAN.

When you switch from a procedure-oriented programming language to an
object-oriented one, you need to change the way you think about
developing the application.  You basically model real-world objects,
that is, objects have attributes and behavior.

For example, think about developing a cell phone application.  A cell
phone's attributes will include things like the color of the keys, the
kind of displays, etc.  A celll phone's behaviors will include how it
makes/receives phone calls, etc.

The class mechanism in Java and C++ allows you to define attributes and
behavior for a particular object.

You should create a class to essentially focus on what that object
should be doing.  Creating one *large* class with lots of methods is a
big design no-no since it makes it difficult to predict all possible
behaviors of related objects.  This also makes your application
difficult to maintain.

Design patterns were developed as "templates," i.e., a set of
interacting classes, that can be applied in recurring software
situations.  There are a couple of books that would be useful:

Design Patterns - Elements of Object-Oriented Software
Erich Gamma, et. al.

Head First Design Patterns
Elisabeth & Eric Freeman
http://www.wickedlysmart.com/

You can download a copy of my introductory Java and/or C++
presentations that I conduct at an annual computer show.  Each one has
the same object-oriented section.  Just go to http://tcf.redlich.net/,
and click on "Downloads."

Hope this helps...

Mike.

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ACGNJ Java Users Group
http://www.javasig.org/
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