Understanding Classification

Understanding Classification
Class is the root word of classification. When you design a class, you systematically
arrange information into a meaningful entity. This arranging is an act of classification and
is something that everyone does—not just programmers. For example, all cars share
common behaviors (they can be steered, stopped, accelerated, and so on) and common
attributes (they have a steering wheel, an engine, and so on). People use the word car to
mean objects that share these common behaviors and attributes. As long as everyone
agrees on what a word means, it all works well; you can express complex but precise
ideas in a concise form. Without classification, it's hard to imagine how people could
think or communicate at all.
Given that classification is so deeply ingrained into the way we think and communicate,
it makes sense to try to write programs by classifying the different concepts inherent in a
problem and its solution, and then modeling these classes in a programming language.
This is exactly what modern object-oriented programming languages, such as Microsoft
Visual C#, allow you to do.