Q: What is meant by state of an object?  

The state of an object in object-oriented programming refers to the current values of its attributes or data members. The state represents the content or data stored within the object at any given time. This is separate from the object's behavior, which is defined by its methods or functions.

• Functions of the object represent behavior, not state.
• Data members of the object contribute to the state, but they are the properties or attributes, not the actual state itself.
• Content of an object directly refers to the values assigned to its attributes, which define its current state.

So, the content (or the data) of an object at a given moment constitutes its state.

The distinction between data members of an object and content of an object is subtle but important in understanding the structure and behavior of objects in object-oriented programming:

Example

Imagine a class Car:

class Car {
    String color;
    String make;
    String model;
    int year;
}

1. Data Members: color, make, model, and year are the data members of the Car class.
2. Content of an Object: When we create a Car object like Car myCar = new Car(), and assign values to myCar (e.g., myCar.color = "blue";), the actual values such as "blue" for color, "Toyota" for make, etc., represent the content or state of myCar at that moment.

Summary

• Data members define the potential structure of any instance of a class.
• Content or state reflects the actual values of these data members in a specific object instance.