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Core Concept of Abstraction
- Abstraction means ignoring certain details to treat different things as equivalent in some context.
- Naming a function to encapsulate operations is a fundamental form of abstraction in programming.
Abstraction Isn't Always General
- New functions often make abstractions that are more specific, not more general.
- We confuse abstraction with generality, but abstraction in software often means less generality.
Map Function Example
- The standard map function is general, working on any list and transformation.
- A specific function like one that squares numbers only applies to lists of numbers, showing how abstractions can be specific.