danryan.us

Thinking in layers as a form of abstraction, iteration, stepwise refinement, naming, blackboxing, handling cognitive limits, modularity, interfacing.

"In computing, we routinely build systems in terms of layers of abstraction, allowing us to focus on one layer at a time and on the formal relations (e.g., “uses,” “refines” or “implements,” “simulates”) between adjacent layers. When we write a program in a high-level language, we are building on lower layers of abstractions. We do not worry about the details of the underlying hardware, the operating system, the file system, or the network; furthermore, we rely on the compiler to correctly implement the semantics of the language. The narrow-waist architecture of the Internet demonstrates the effectiveness and robustness of appropriately designed abstractions: the simple TCP/IP layer at the middle has enabled a multitude of unforeseen applications to proliferate at layers above, and a multitude of unforeseen platforms, communications media, and devices to proliferate at layers below." Wing, 2014. "Computational Thinking Benefits Society."