Event Oriented Language

     In the traditional programming approach the actions are carried out in a prescribed order.  This is the order which is specified by the programmer (i.e the order of execution is determined internally within the program).  But in event-oriented programming each feature in the program is activated only when the user responds to a corresponding object (i.e either by clicking the mouse or by pressing a key).

    The user actions such as clicking the mouse or pressing a key are referred to as events and the code that responds to a particular event is known as event handler.

    The languages that support  events are called event-oriented languages such as VC++, VB, VB.NET and JAVA.

     In event-driven programming  the sequence of operations for an applications is determined by the user's interaction with the applications interface (forms, menus, buttons etc.).  The code for an event-driven application remains in the background until certain events happen.  So with event-driven programs the user dictates the order of program execution not the programmer.  Instead the program "driving" the user, the user "drives" the program.

     All the windows programs are event-driven.  This means that programs respond to user actions called events.  Such as clicking the mouse, striking a key and so on.  Each time such an event occurs the corresponding method (event handler) is called in our program.  In this way, the whole program is broken up into bite sized methods responding various windows events.