1. abstract data type ADT A kind of data abstraction where a types internal form is hidden behind a set of access functions. Values of the type are created and inspected only by calls to the access functions. This allows the implementation of the type to be changed without requiring any changes outside the module in which it is defined. Objects and ADTs are both forms of data abstraction, but objects are not ADTs. Objects use procedural abstraction methods, not type abstraction. A classic example of an ADT is a stack data type for which functions might be provided to create an empty stack, to push values onto a stack and to pop values from a stack. Reynolds paper http://www. cis. upenn. edu/~gunter/publications/documents/taoop Cook paper "OOP vs ADTs" http://www. wcook. org/papers/OOPvsADT/CookOOPvsADT90. pdf.
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