2.1.1 thinking abstractly

Question 1

what is representational abstraction?

Answer 1

a technique in which excessive details are removed to arrive at a representation of a problem that only consists of the key features

Question 2

what is abstraction by generalisation?

Answer 2

it involves grouping together similarities within a problem to identify what kind of problem it is

Question 3

what is data abstraction?

Answer 3

details about how the data is being stored are hidden

Question 4

what are the advantages of using abstraction for software development?

Answer 4

easier for programmers to focus on core elements
reduces the time needed to be spent on the project
prevents the program from getting unnecessarily large

Question 5

what are the advantages of using abstraction in programming languages?

Answer 5

easier to remember syntax in high level as it is closer to natural language
coding becomes accessible to beginners

Question 6

how is abstraction used in object oriented programming?

Answer 6

objects are an abstraction for real world entities
attributes are an abstraction for the characteristics of an object
methods are an abstraction for the actions a real world object is able to perform

Question 7

what is the difference between abstraction and reality?

Answer 7

abstraction is the simplified version of reality

Question 8

what is procedural abstraction?

Answer 8

it models what a subroutine does without considering how its done

Question 9

what is functional abstraction?

Answer 9

simplifying a problem by breaking it down into a series of reusable functions which disregard the particular computational method