Computer Science / Unit 3 CS 0095 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Abstract Data Type
Captions available
The idea
An abstract data type is the family of all data structures sharing common functionality while differing in representation — the what-it-does, separated from the how-it-is-stored.
In practice
A fare card and a paper punch ticket both answer "has this ride been paid for," stored differently.
Where people slip
Choose the functionality first; the representation second.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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