The whole basis of OOP is the object, which is a combination of data and the procedures that act on the data. Procedures in an object are referred to as methods, while data is referred to as member data. This merger of data and methods is known as encapsulation, and provides a means of more accurately modeling real-world objects.

To get a better grasp of the benefit of objects, think for a moment about the common characteristics of real-world objects.

A class is a template, or specification, that defines a type of object.
Object Concept
Understanding Objects and Classes