Some of the ideas and advantages of OOP include:

• The concept of a data class makes it possible to define subclasses of data objects that share some or all of the main class characteristics. Called inheritance, this property of OOP forces a more thorough data analysis, reduces development time, and ensures more accurate coding.
• Data hiding is possible because an object and its methods will know only about the data they need to know about. Because other objects and methods in the application program cannot be accessed without rewriting the object, the possiblities of accidental or unintended data corruption that are possible in procedural programs are not possible with OOP.
• The definition of a class is reuseable not only by the program for which it is initially created but also by other object-oriented programs (and, for this reason, can be more easily distributed for use in networks).
• The concept of data classes allows a programmer to create new data types that are not defined in the language itself.

   C++ is the most popular object-oriented language today. A subset of C++, the Java programming language is designed especially for distributing program objects in client/server systems such as the Internet.

   In OCR processing, the scanned-in image or bitmap is analyzed for light and dark areas in order to identify each alphabetic letter or numeric digit. When a character is recognized, it is converted into an ASCII code. Special circuit boards and computer chips designed expressly for OCR are used to speed up the recognition process.

   OCR is being used by libraries to digitize and preserve their holdings. OCR is also used to process checks and credit card slips and sort the mail. Billions of magazines and letters are sorted every day by OCR machines, considerably speeding up mail delivery.

   Object Linking and Embedding was designed to support compound documents (which contain multiple information types, such as text, graphic images, sound, motion video). The Windows desktop is an example of a compound document and Microsoft used OLE to build it. OLE and the Component Object Model (COM), a more general concept that succeeded OLE, support the development of "plug-and-play" programs that can be written in any language and used dynamically by any application in the system. These programs are known as components and the application in which they are run is known as a container. This component-based approach to application development reduces development time and improves the program capability and quality. Windows 95 and NT application development programs such as Powerbuilder and Microsoft Access take advantage of OCXs.

   Microsoft now calls an OCX an ActiveX control, the component object under Microsoft's set of ActiveX technologies, of which the fundamental concept is the Component Object Model (COM) and, in a network, the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM).

   An OCX or ActiveX control is actually implemented as a Dynamic Link Library DLL module. (You can think of a DLL program as a "subprogram" that can be used by any number of application programs, each of which is a "container" for the DLL or OCX/ActiveX control "object.") Visual Basic and C++ are commonly used to write OCX or ActiveX controls.

   Many computer hardware manufacturers that have their own brand-name products derive considerable revenue by reselling the product or key parts of it to OEM companies that seem to be competing in the same market. Arguments for selling to an OEM are that you may be able to make money from a market sector that your competitor already owns (perhaps because they have an existing customer base) and that you can be a more efficient producer because you sell and manufacture more of your product. Frequently, an OEM company differentiates itself from the company it buys parts from by adding features or using different selling concepts. Many OEM companies are selling a "solution" tailored to a particular vertical market.

Also see VAR (value-added reseller), a somewhat similar repackaging of software.

   The latest version of OS/2 Warp, Warp 4, has a Netscape Web browser that exploits OS/2's existing speech recognition capability. You can command Web sites to appear with your voice.

IBM has an OS/2 Web site in Austin, Texas.

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