Introduction to Computing: Explorations in Language, Logic, and Machines

ion. Abstraction is a way of hiding details by giving things names. Weuse abstraction to manage complexity. Good abstractions hide unnecessary de-tails so they can be used to build complex systems without needing to under-stand all the details of the abstraction at once. We introduce procedural ab-straction in Chapter 4, data abstraction in Chapter 5, abstraction using objectsin Chapter 10, and many other examples of abstraction throughout this book. Throughout this book, these three themes will recur recursively, universally, andabstractly as we explore the art and science of how to instruct computing ma-chines to perform useful tasks, reason about the resources needed to execute aparticular procedure, and understand the fundamental and practical limits onwhat computers can do.