Do we really understand the world ?
Oh too big question.
Start counting objects or entities which we understand.
Wait wait !!. One more thing. Decide extent to which you understand those entities.
Well, the concept of understanding any entity at different level of detail is called ABSTRACTION. There is no exact definition of Abstraction.
For example :
I would like to tell you one story.
Once upon a time My friend was travelling from Andheri to Churchgate by bus. His favourite seat ˜Window seat”. One person was sitting beside him. Person was looking like common man in Mumbai.My friend saw “Maruti 800″ going near by bus.He is curious about cars and He asked neighbor a question,
My Friend : Excuse me ! Do you know Maruti ?
person : Sorry, Can you brief about your question ? you are talking about a car, a person or Great God Maruti ? Exactly which one ?
My friend : Car .
Person : Ya I know Maruti 800. It is one model from Maruti company. It was one of the best selling car once.
My Friend: Do you know how to repair it ? Because I have one and I want to repair it.
Person : Well, I drive that car for my Boss. But I don’t know how to repair it because I am not Mechanic.
My Friend : Oh !! Its ok thank you for kind information.
Person left bus at next bus stop at Santacruz. Another person came and sat beside my friend but mind of my friend was not satisfied with the previous answer and what a coincidence he was Car Mechanic. My friend started conversation with same question with person,
My Friend : Excuse me ! Do you know Maruti ?
Mechanic : Yes, But which Maruti you are talking about Maruti-800, Maruti- Esteem,Maruti-Zen or some other model ?
My Friend : (Instantly) Maruti 800.
Mechanic : Yes its nice car. This is nice model. It has nice working piston mechanism. It gives nice Average per liter.
My Friend : So you also know about its each part in detail ? Because I want to make animated model of that car in my 3D project.
Mechanic : No, Such detailed information I don’t have. My work is to repair car. I just know how to repair a car. I am not manufacturer.
My Friend :Â Thank you for the information.
My friend became very much curious about car and went to the Maruti office. There he mate Engineer present in the Manufacture department. Started Same conversation and finally understood that Its still incomplete information. Detailed research and development is going in Japan regarding Aerodynamics of models, Material used to manufacture of the car body etc.
From this example we understood that Abstraction is the concept of hiding the details from the user at different levels of understanding.
Its clear that As we go deep through the level of abstraction the simplicity goes on decreasing. But at the same time the knowledge goes on increasing.
In Computer science world if we consider abstraction, For example in languages like Java
at higher level of abstraction we called Software or an Application. Below that we have pre compiled libraries. Below that we have class files and so on.
Abstraction in Java is also represented by characteristics such as ENCAPSULATION, DATA HIDING, POLYMORPHISM,AGGREGATION etc.
In every case we observe that the Power lies in the lower level of abstraction but the simplicity lies at higher level of abstraction. For example we don’t write a shell code every time to load different processes that we don’t need often. We get those shell scripts in ready format and whenever we need we just run those.
About Abstract laws and summary- These are used for compression, Not actual compression but compression in meaning of words.
Abstract Arts are those arts which represents non real or imaginary pictures. Such as you can see in the picture. It represents when human mind jumps from one thought to another in weavy fashion.
#1 by rahul - October 7th, 2008 at 20:29
hi pratham…
your topic for the blog is really different.. though we are familar with the term Abstraction, after reading th blog i understood the exact meaning of the same and how the term is used in all fields like computer science, Abstract Arts etc.
And both the images in the blog are really very descriptive (only when we know the meaning of abstraction)…
#2 by khyati pandit - October 8th, 2008 at 14:49
Hi prathamesh!!
good blog topic man.Now i clearly understood the meaning of abstraction.The images are also good…
#3 by Michael Fernando - October 10th, 2008 at 10:49
Hello Prathamesh,
Good work on the blog. Abstraction is an interesting topic and your story(fictitious) explains exactly what it means.
Keep writing!
#4 by Kavita - October 10th, 2008 at 12:54
Hi Prathamesh,
Very interesting, different n informative blog. The way u explained it by giving an example is really nice.
#5 by Laxman Mankala - October 13th, 2008 at 12:27
Hi Prathamesh,
Initially I thought it must be as hard as JAVA/OOPS when we started learning it! Then As we worked around, searched around, we got involved into it then we feel its good and little easy now! Same way your topic and blog gives explanation of Abstraction in Abstract manner. Generally, abstraction is a practice to reduce and factor out details so that one can focus/understand on a few concepts at a time. I would say….Abstraction uses a strategy of simplification…….. Even you used the same strategy to make us understand the situation. Thanks for the blog man….. hope we will see more like this.
Cheers,
Laxman.
#6 by Prathamesh - October 14th, 2008 at 22:53
Thank you my frineds for posting your valueable comments. I expect your support in future like this and even more ………….