University of Central Florida (UCF) COP3330 Object Oriented Programming Final Practice Exam

In object-oriented programming, composition refers to a design principle where one class contains an instance of another class as part of its own state. This is often characterized by a "has-a" relationship.

For example, consider a class named `Car` that contains an instance of a class named `Engine`. In this case, we can say that a `Car` "has-an" `Engine`, which illustrates a composition relationship. This relationship implies that the lifecycle of the `Engine` is tied to that of the `Car`. If the `Car` is deleted, so is the `Engine`; thus, it is a strong relationship where the part cannot exist without the whole.

In contrast, other relationships mentioned in the options highlight different associations. A "part-of" relationship can be quite similar to "has-a," but the terminology used in the context of composition more accurately captures the essence of how instances are organized within an object. A "uses-a" relationship suggests a weaker association, where one class utilizes another without ownership. An "inherits-from" relationship directly refers to inheritance in object-oriented programming, which is about one class deriving from another and does not apply to composition.