ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Helper class

Hey kiddo! Do you know what helpers are? They are people who help us do things that we might find difficult or cannot do on our own. Similarly, in computer programming, a helper class is like a helper that helps us do things that we might find difficult to do with our main class.

So, let's imagine you are building a toy car with your building blocks. The car has four wheels, and you are struggling to fix them. Your dad comes and helps you fix them onto the car. In programming, the helper class is like that dad who helps us fix things that we might find difficult to do on our own.

A helper class is a class that is created to help another class. It has methods or functions that perform specific tasks and are reusable in multiple parts of the program. These methods are called helper methods or utility methods as well. They help in reducing the complexity of the main class by taking care of some of its functionalities.

To make it easier for you to understand, let's take an example of a calculator. A calculator has many functions, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Instead of writing all these functions inside the calculator class, we can create a helper class that holds all these functions so that the main calculator class remains simpler and less complex.

In conclusion, a helper class is like a helper that helps simplify our work by doing the difficult parts for us. It holds methods that perform specific tasks and are reusable in multiple parts of the program. So just like your dad helps you with your toy car, helper classes help us in programming to create more efficient and less complex programs.