Programming principles and design · Lesson 28 of 60 · Concept lesson · Optional

Abstraction

Abstraction means hiding the details and showing only what you need to use something.

You press a button on a microwave without knowing how it heats food, and a function works the same way.

Good abstractions let you think about what a piece of code does, not how it does it.

Picture it

you call:        average(list)
                    |
hidden inside:   add them up
                 count them
                 divide

The caller only sees the name average and what it returns. The adding, counting and dividing stay hidden inside the function.

Code example

function average(numbers) {
  let total = 0;
  for (const n of numbers) total += n;
  return total / numbers.length;
}
console.log(average([2, 4, 6]));

Output: 4

You use average without caring how it adds and divides.

def average(numbers):
    total = 0
    for n in numbers:
        total += n
    return total / len(numbers)

print(average([2, 4, 6]))

Output: 4.0

You use average without caring how it adds and divides.

Check yourself

Pick an answer for each question. You can retry as many times as you like.

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Programming principles and design · Lesson 28 of 60 · Concept lesson · Optional

Abstraction

Abstraction means hiding the details and showing only what you need to use something.

You press a button on a microwave without knowing how it heats food, and a function works the same way.

Good abstractions let you think about what a piece of code does, not how it does it.

Picture it

you call:        average(list)
                    |
hidden inside:   add them up
                 count them
                 divide

The caller only sees the name average and what it returns. The adding, counting and dividing stay hidden inside the function.

Code example

function average(numbers) {
  let total = 0;
  for (const n of numbers) total += n;
  return total / numbers.length;
}
console.log(average([2, 4, 6]));

Output: 4

You use average without caring how it adds and divides.

def average(numbers):
    total = 0
    for n in numbers:
        total += n
    return total / len(numbers)

print(average([2, 4, 6]))

Output: 4.0

You use average without caring how it adds and divides.

Check yourself

Pick an answer for each question. You can retry as many times as you like.

Loading the questions…