Section 2 - Problem solving and theory of computation

Question 1

what is abstraction

Answer 1

removing unnecessary details

Question 2

what is abstraction by generalisation

Answer 2

grouping by common characteristics to arrive at a hierarchical relationship of types

Question 3

what is procedural abstraction

Answer 3

using a procedure to carry out a sequence of steps for achieving some task, the programmer does not need to know the details of how the procedure works

Question 4

what is decomposition/compostition

Answer 4

• decomposition is breaking down complex problems into a number of subproblems, each of which performs an identifiable task
• composition is combining procedures to form compound procedures

Question 5

what is problem abstraction

Answer 5

removing details until the problem is represented in a way that is possible to solve, because it reduces to one that has already been solved