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Computer Science / Unit 3   CS 0096 short lesson, about 20 seconds

"The Type Is the Structure"

Captions available

The idea

Mistaking an abstract data type for one particular structure hides every alternative — one set of operations can be implemented by many representations with different costs.

In practice

A hospital waitlist keeps working when its storage changes underneath, because the operations never changed.

Where people slip

Swapping representations is routine; the type survives it.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

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