Describe what you understand by abstraction, and how it is relevant to software engineering.

Two parts: Abstraction: Separating ideas from reality / implementationHiding (irrelevant) details from the userA representation / simplification of a concept Application: Object oriented programming is full of abstractions e.g. polymorphism, inheritance, objects themselves are an abstraction of real life concepts.Software engineering will rely on behaviours and attributes, not how a real-life object behaves e.g. in a racing game how is the car programmed?Modularity : functions will be used in order to abstract unnecessary data or operations from the user. For example, in Python there is a list.sort() method. Which algorithm is used here? Do we need to know?Layering from the Operating System : e.g. a command in HLL e.g. Python is much simpler than in LLL. We do not need to concern ourselves with how the command works, hence we can focus on the logic behind it.

JN
Answered by Jacob N. Computing tutor

2758 Views

See similar Computing A Level tutors

Related Computing A Level answers

All answers ▸

Convert 10101100 to decimal.


What is meant by the term spooling? Give an example of when it can be used.


Explain a bubble sort. You may use pseudocode and/or diagrams to help demonstrate your answer.


Given a graph with n nodes and m edges, every edge has a passing cost that can be negative, find the minimum distance between node 1 and every other node


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning