OOP .. I just don't get it.

Hi I've been using php for a while now but I have not got my head around OOP (classes). Why bother using them? I've read thru a few tutorials on using classes and the examples given are quite simple. This is probably the problem - I just can't see the benefit of using this style of programming. Here is what I'm getting at. ------------USING A CLASS----------------- class Table { var $rows; var $columns; function MakeTable() { draw a table with $this->columns as the number of columns and $this->rows as the number of rows } } $mytable = new Table; $mytable->rows = 5; $mytable->columns = 10; $mytable->MakeTable(); ---------------USING A NORMAL FUNCTION----- function MakeTable($rows,$columns) { make a table with $rows as the number of rows and $columns as the number of columns } $rows = 5; $columns = 10; MakeTable($rows,$columns); ----------------------------------------------------------- Using a class doesn't appear to give me any benefits - in fact the code is longer. I know that you can spawn more instances of the same class which sounds useful, however I can also run my function as many times as I like using different variables. What am I missing here? Thanks Mojo