Unit 2 - Problem Solving and Theory of Computation

Question 1

What is abstraction?

Answer 1

Abstraction involves creating a model of a situation to help solve it,

Question 2

Give the different types of abstraction.

Answer 2

• Information hiding
• Data abstraction
• Functional abstraction
• Procedural abstraction
• Automation
• Decomposition

Question 3

What is information hiding?

Answer 3

Information hiding involves creating a model of a situation, and omitting any unnecessary detail to make the problem easier to solve.

Question 4

What is functional abstraction?

Answer 4

Functional abstraction involves defining and calling a function which solves a specific problem, such as square rooting a number, identifying and removing vowels from a word…

Question 5

What is decomposition?

Answer 5

Decomposition involves breaking down a problem into sub-problems and further breaking these down into singular tasks/modules. This simplifies the task largely, making it easier to complete.

Question 6

What is problem abstraction?

Answer 6

Problem abstraction is where the detail of a problem is constantly removed until the problem is already solved.