Xref: utzoo comp.lang.smalltalk:461 comp.lang.c++:777
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!rochester!PT.CS.CMU.EDU!cadre!pitt!jonathan
From: jonathan@pitt.UUCP (Jonathan Eunice)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.c++
Subject: Object Orientation and The Truth
Message-ID: <2792@pitt.UUCP>
Date: 12 Feb 88 06:42:08 GMT
Reply-To: jonathan@pitt.UUCP (Jonathan Eunice)
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh Computer Science
Lines: 40

The Truth is that "object-oriented" is a bad name.  A really,
really bad name.  A horrible name.  It's far too long to say or
write naturally.  So we look to shortcuts, especially in speech, where
using the "object-oriented" adjective (eg, in every fourth sentence as
most OOPSLA attendees do for 3-5 days running) has been medically
proven to cause brain damage. So we end up speaking in gobbledyguck
like OOP, OOD, OODB, OODBMS, etc.  This makes you sound as though you
just finished an extended tour of duty with DARPA.  The situation is
not much better in writing, where a reference to object-oriented
programming or object-oriented databases can take a huge chunk of a
printed line, and looks really ugly.  (If you haven't tried writing
about your favorite object-oriented database system yet, trust me in
this.)  Using numerous acronyms in your paper isn't any more elegant
than it is in speech.

A Modest Proposal:

'Oriented' is a tepid word; I don't know who decided that it is a
necessary adjunct to 'object', but it seems to have stuck.  We don't
need it.  Drop it wherever you see it.  Cut it out.  Say and write
'object' instead of 'object-oriented'.  There's no loss in effect or 
meaning, because the 'orientation' didn't mean much it the first place.  
Either you're using objects or you're not.  Compare:

object programming    	object-oriented programming
object systems       	object-oriented systems
object databases      	object-oriented databases
object design        	object-oriented design

See how much better that is?  If not, try saying the phrases a few
times.  I can pretty well promise you'll be a happier, more fulfilled
person for the loss in dead weight.

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