Understanding Object-Oriented Programming in Scala

Hello! Today, we're going to solidify our understanding of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) in Scala by revisiting the pillars of Encapsulation, Abstraction, Inheritance, and Polymorphism. Let's get started!

We'll revisit OOP fundamentals. As you may know, we create objects from classes, which define attributes (data) and methods (operations). Remember that the keyword this refers to the object's methods and properties that are called.

Here's a quick refresher:

class Person:
  var name: String = "John Doe"
  def introduce() =
    // In this context, "this" references the "name" of the current Person object.
    println(s"Hello, my name is ${this.name}.")

Now, let's go back to the central principles of OOP: Encapsulation, Abstraction, Inheritance, and Polymorphism.

Encapsulation protects data by making attributes private and providing safe methods for access.

Abstraction simplifies systems by creating higher-level representations.

Inheritance allows classes to inherit properties and methods, encouraging code reusability.

Polymorphism allows different types of objects to be handled in a uniform manner if they share some features.

Below is an example demonstrating polymorphism and inheritance:

abstract class Animal:
  def makeSound() =
    println("The animal makes a sound")

class Pig extends Animal:
  override def makeSound() =
    println("Oink! Oink!")

In this example, Pig, a subclass of Animal, overrides the makeSound method, showcasing polymorphism.

To solidify our understanding, let's examine some practical Scala examples.

First, an Employee class showcases encapsulation:

class Employee(private var name: String, private var salary: Double):
  def getName: String =
    // getName provides safe access to the name attribute
    name
  
  def getSalary: Double =
    // Similarly, getSalary provides safe access to the salary attribute
    salary

  def raiseSalary(percent: Double): Unit =
    if percent > 0 then
      // We can safely modify the private salary attribute within the class
      salary += salary * percent / 100.0

An abstract class is used to illustrate abstraction:

abstract class Drawable:
  def draw(): Unit

class Circle(private val radius: Double) extends Drawable:
  override def draw(): Unit =
    // Circle implements the abstract requirement of the Drawable interface
    println(s"Drawing a Circle with a radius of $radius")