The whole point of programming is creating abstractions

Posted by Damien on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Damien
Published on 2010-04-13T20:27:10Z Indexed on 2010/04/13 20:43 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 407

Filed under:

abstraction

|

language-agnostic

Hullo, this is Damien.

I am new to programming and to StackOverflow community.

Our professor once said that "the whole point of programming is creating abstractions." His explanation however went right over my head.

Please explain the meaning of this sentence in simple words -- something that a noob like me can understand.

Thank you!

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about abstraction

Is there a way communicate or measure levels of abstraction?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I'll be the first to say that this question is a bit... out there. But here are a couple questions I bear in mind : Is abstraction continuous or discrete? Is there a single unit of abstraction? But I'm not sure those questions are truly answerable or even really makes sence. My naive answer would… >>> More
What is the value in hiding the details through abstractions? Isn't there value in transparency?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
Background I am not a big fan of abstraction. I will admit that one can benefit from adaptability, portability and re-usability of interfaces etc. There is real benefit there, and I don't wish to question that, so let's ignore it. There is the other major "benefit" of abstraction, which is to hide… >>> More
Objective-C: how to prevent abstraction leaks

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I gather that in Objective-C I must declare instance variables as part of the interface of my class even if these variables are implementation details and have private access. In "subjective" C, I can declare a variable in my .c file and it is not visible outside of that compilation unit. I can declare… >>> More
How much abstraction is too much?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
In an Object Oriented Program: How much abstraction is too much? How much is just right? I have always been a nuts and bolts kind of guy. I understood the concept behind high levels of encapsulation and abstraction, but always felt instinctively that adding too much would just confuse the program… >>> More
Abstraction is for lame programmers ? [closed]

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi, there's this senior developer in my company who's (in his own opinion) a pretty good C programmer. I happen to be from functional background (ML, to be specific) and so for me composition and abstraction are the two basic elements of programming. But this MrSmartyPants has got some kind of superiority… >>> More

Related posts about language-agnostic

Are there any language agnostic unit testing frameworks?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I have always been skeptical of rewriting working code - porting code is no exception to this. However, with the advent of TDD and automated testing it is much more reasonable to rewrite and refactor code. Does anyone know if there is a TDD tool that can be used for porting old code? Ideally you… >>> More
Language Agnostic Basic Programming Question

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
This is very basic question from programming point of view but as I am in learning phase, I thought I would better ask this question rather than having a misunderstanding or narrow knowledge about the topic. So do excuse me if somehow I mess it up. Question: Let's say I have class A,B,C and D… >>> More
Language-agnostic term for typed things that need memory

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Is there an accepted general term that subsumes the concepts of variables, class instances and arrays? Basically "any typed thing that needs memory". In C++, such a thing is called an object, but I'm looking for a more language-agnostic term. § 1.8 The C++ object model 1 The constructs in… >>> More
Deprecated Methods in Code Base

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
A lot of the code I've been working on recently, both professionally (read: at work) and in other spheres (read: at home, for friends/family/etc, or NOT FOR WORK), has been worked on, redesigned and re-implemented several times - where possible/required. This has been in an effort to make things smaller… >>> More
Coding Competition, language agnostic guidelines?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi there: I might be doing a coding competition soon, I was wondering if anyone made one and what where the guidelines/ process. I'd like to make the competition appealing to all devs, and I m trying to come up with ideas as to how. the scenario is: There is an event running and we(of the coding… >>> More