Java is not Object Oriented

The Java programming language is one of the most taught, learned, written about, and programmed in programming languages today. Beginning its life in 1995, it rode in on the Object-Oriented Programming hype-wave of the nineties. Although some might argue that Java's primary means of abstraction is the class---and therefore Java is primarily object-oriented, the huge number of available Java libraries indicates otherwise. In this essay, I will argue that Java's most powerful means of abstraction is the library. I will also explore whether a new term---namely "Library-Oriented Programming"---is warranted to describe programming using libraries as the main abstraction. A library (in OO languages) is a collection of classes designed and made to be used together in an organized way. There are certain conventions that must be... [read full story]