The Hidden Injuries Of Overloading 'ADT

Authors

Duane Buck, Otterbein UniversityFollow
David J. Stucki, Otterbein UniversityFollow

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2009

Publication Title

SIGCSE'09 - Proceedings of the 40th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

Publisher

ACM

Keywords

Abstract Data Types, Containers, Interfaces, Modeling, Data Representation, Value Semantics

Abstract

The most commonly stated definition of abstract data type (ADT) is that it is a domain of values and the operations over that domain. So, for example, a language's built-in types, like int are seen to be ADTs. It is our opinion that a pure interpretation of this definition yields a semantics in which using an ADT is the same as using built-in types: the operations are side effect free and there is no concern over alias, shallow copy or synchronization problems. Unfortunately, the term abstract data type has over time been associated with at least three distinct meanings, and those incompatible definitions have often been conflated, causing confusion to students and textbook authors alike. We believe that this has resulted in a loss of appreciation for the value-based semantics of ADTs.

First Page

256

Last Page

259

Repository Citation

Buck, Duane and Stucki, David J., "The Hidden Injuries Of Overloading 'ADT" (2009). Mathematics Faculty Scholarship. 13.
https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/math_fac/13

Original Citation

Buck, D., and D.J. Stucki. "The Hidden Injuries Of Overloading "ADT." SIGCSE'09 - Proceedings Of The 40Th ACM Technical Symposium On Computer Science Education SIGCSE'09 - Proceedings of the 40th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (2009): 256-259.

DOI

10.1145/1508865.1508958

Version

Publisher's Version

Publisher's Statement

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Peer Reviewed

1