Objects are a programming construct that allow data and procedures to be encapsulated together.  A class describes the contents (the data and procedures) of a group of objects.  Objects that belong to a class are called instances of the class. The contents of an object are referred to as its members. There are two types of members: data members and member procedures.  The member procedures of an object are called methods.  An object's members have access controls which limit where the member can be accessed from, similar to modules.  Members declared exported can be accessed from anywhere.  Members declared local can only be accessed from within the object's methods.  

In Maple, objects are a special type of module.  Thus routines for working with modules also work with objects.

There are many benefits of object oriented programming.

The implementation of a class can be changed radically without changing the interface of exported methods.  Thus code that uses the objects will not need to change when the internal implementation changes.

As objects are self-contained they can be easily reused.

Objects can define methods that allow them to integrate with standard Maple syntax.  Thus users can create objects that can be used like builtin types.

A set of classes can implement a common set of exports.  Thus a procedure that uses only the common exports will work with any objects from any of the classes without needing to know which particular class the objects belong to.

Objects in Maple are created using the syntax for creating modules or by copying existing objects.  When using the module declaration syntax, adding option object will create an object instead of a module. The declaration defines the class instantiated by the object.  Names declared local are internal to the object and cannot be accessed from outside of the object.  Names declared exported can be accessed outside of the object.  To create a new object by copying an existing one, use the Object function.

For a detailed discussion of creating objects in Maple, see Creating a New Object.