On the application of data abstraction facilities

ABSTRACT

In a recent workshop on the Design and Implementation of Programming Languages, Ledgard[4] asked language designers and researchers on data abstraction whether the encapsulated data type facility is actually used in practical programming. The authors have been using the concept of encapsulated data types in designing programs and in the teaching of a second course in programming. This paper provides an answer to Ledgard inquiry and the authors' conclusion that the use of data abstraction facilities has to be taught much like the concept of procedure. This paper may, therefore, be viewed as a tutorial on the application and teaching of data abstraction facilities in the construction of programs.

REFERENCES

• 1: Edsger W. Dijkstra, Letters to the editor: go to statement considered harmful, Communications of the ACM, v.11 n.3, p.147-148, March 1968 [doi>10.1145/362929.362947]
• 2: E. W. Dijkstra, "Notes on Structured Programming", Structured Programming (O. -J. Dahl, E. W. Dijkstra, and C.A.R. Hoare), Academic Press, 1972 (pp. 1-82)
• 3: John Guttag, Abstract data types and the development of data structures, Proceedings of the 1976 conference on Data : Abstraction, definition and structure, p.72, March 22-24, 1976, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
• 4: H. F. Ledgard, Panel on Data Types, Proceedings of a DOD Sponsored Workshop on the Design and Implementation of Programming Languages. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, No. 54. Springer-Verlag 1977. (p. 16)
• 5: B. H. Liskov and S. N. Zilles, "Specification Techniques for Data Abstractions" IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, SE-1, 1, March 1975 (pp. 7-19)
• 6: Barbara Liskov, et. al. "Abstraction Mechanisms in CLU" CS 144-1, Laboratory for Computer Science, M.I.T. January 1977
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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
        D.2.11 Software Architectures
            Subjects: Data abstraction

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.3 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
      D.3.3 Language Constructs and Features
          Subjects: Abstract data types

General Terms:
Languages, Theory

Keywords:
Abstraction facilities, Application of data abstraction, Design and implementation of programming languages, Encapsulated data types, Programming methodology, Quality software