Abstraction

1. Generalisation; ignoring or hiding details to capture some kind of commonality between different instances.

Examples are abstract data types (the representation details are hidden), abstract syntax (the details of the concrete syntax are ignored), abstract interpretation (details are ignored to analyse specific properties).

2. <programming> Parameterisation, making something a function of something else.

Examples are lambda abstractions (making a term into a function of some variable), higher-order functions (parameters are functions), bracket abstraction (making a term into a function of a variable).

Opposite of concretisation.

< Previous Terms	Terms Containing abstraction	Next Terms >
absolute path absolute pathname abstract class abstract data type abstract interpretation	6.001 A# abstract data type abstract interpretation abstraction	abstract machine Abstract Machine Notation abstract syntax Abstract Syntax Notation 1 abstract syntax tree