Programming with Your Own Objects

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You can start using objects gradually, finding useful tasks for which combining code and data is an advantage. You can use the functionality of these objects by declaring object variables, assigning new objects to them, and calling the objects' properties and methods.

As you add more and more objects to your programs, you'll start to see relationships between them. You can begin making program design more dependent on objects and their relationships, and you can begin using more robust techniques — like creating custom collection classes — for expressing those relationships in code.

At some point, you'll suddenly see how linking objects together changes the very nature of your program, and you'll be ready to start designing object-based programs from the ground up.

The following topics provide an overview of these evolutionary changes in your coding style. Read them now, to give yourself a rough picture of where you're headed, and read them again when your ideas of object-based programming begin to gel.

For More Information   ActiveX components open up yet another dimension of code reuse and object-based programming. If you have the Professional or Enterprise Edition of Visual Basic, you can begin to explore that dimension through Creating ActiveX Components in the Component Tools Guide.