1.2.05

Why Quantum Theory is important for Object Orientation

Historical information
Quantum Theory is the most precise complex theory we have today. There is no other theory of such universality and brilliancy. The theory was created by Max Planck in the year 1900. In his earlier years, Planck wanted to study physics and was told that this would not be beneficial as anything of importance had already been discovered. Good for us he did not follow that hollow advice.

After Planck laid the foundation, world-famous Albert Einstein who is being celebrated this year (Einstein year, year of Physics) because of the 100th aniversary of the Quantum Theory and his 50th day of death, extended the great theory "casually". Then, he was employed at the patent office in Bern, Switzerland and was able to think about the problems with Quantum Theory while doing his daily business (which he must have found sort of boring and that used about 1% of his intellectual capacity, I assume). That is someone you would name a genius!

Other great names correlated with the theory are Niels Bohr (danish, outstanding character and physician, mentor of Heisenberg), Werner Heisenberg (founder of the Uncertainty Principle), Erwin Schrödinger (developed wave mechanics as well as Heisenberg did, but from a different perspective as discovered later on) and not to forget Max Born as teacher of many great physicians such as Heisenberg, Robert Oppenheimer (director of the well-known Manhattan project in Los Alamos), Fermi and Edward Teller (father of the hydrogen bomb).

It's all about philosophy
For most people not having a general understanding of Quantum Physics, it's not easy to see that this theory at first is capable of explaining our daily life's experiences (such as velocity, chemical reactions etc.). One must make himself aware that Quantum Physics contains Newton's Theory which is only a special case of Quantum Physics! Secondly, Quantum Theory predicts - and that is common sense and out of discussion in physicians circles - that nothing is determinated, meaning we are ruled by randomness. If you don't believe it you are in company with Einstein but not with Stephen Hawking. At third Quantum Theory is the most precise theory we have. Period. Next, Quantum Theory and Einstein's Theory of Relativity both meet when it comes to trying to explain Black Holes. This is because Quantum Theory copes with very small particles and a Block Hole is something very very small. And it is because Einstein's theory is appropriate for explaining huge mass embodiment, such as a Black Hole.

There is no Reality
Although Quantum Theory is the best theory we have, it is not a correct and complete one. If you don't believe it, I suggest reading some books about it. The theory is all about trying to give us a quite good description of what reality might be and how we could predict future states of our reality. Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle alone prohibits knowing about reality precisely!

As we can easily see Physics and Object Orientation are both subject to objects. The type of objects does not matter, may they be technical instances or real instances. There are no real instances as said before. Both theories, Physics as a whole, and the OO paradigm are only descriptions of a theory that is commonly seen as "good". Nothing more.

Shortfalls
So, just being logic and asking a provocative question: If:

  1. Quantum Theory is a very good theory and
  2. Quantum Theory for sure is much more complex than the theory of Object Orientation and
  3. both theories are about describing objects as part of our "reality"

then, how could someone think about OOP as a near-perfect paradigm? How could someone think OOP is a really good theory? I don't want to say that OOP is a bad thing, I love it. But as OOP is so extremely simple compared to Quantum Theory, and OOP has its weaknesses, how could we think of that there are no potentials? Many people don't think so, fortunately. But some love OO that much, that they get blind about its pitfalls. Just remember AOP as an attempt to make OOP more powerful and capable. And evertime you try to make something more powerful it will soon get too complicated. So AOP will be doomed to die out in just a few years as will classical OOP. AOP is too impratical to be used by the mass of developers out there. But it is a necessary step recognizing the possibilities and necessities to form a new theory of describing situations in a machine-understandable form.