The Four Pillars: Abstraction

Key aspects of abstraction include:

1. Simplification: Abstraction reduces complexity by hiding unnecessary details.
2. Focusing on essential features: It emphasises what an object does rather than how it does it.
3. Separation of concerns: It allows separating the interface of a class from its implementation.
4. Modularity: Abstraction promotes modular design by defining clear boundaries between components.

Abstract classes and interfaces

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In many object-oriented languages, abstraction is implemented through abstract classes and interfaces. While Python doesn’t have a built-in interface concept, we can achieve similar functionality using abstract base classes. Python’s abc module provides infrastructure for defining abstract base classes:

from abc import ABC, abstractmethod

class Shape(ABC):
    @abstractmethod
    def area(self):
        pass

    @abstractmethod
    def perimeter(self):
        pass

class Rectangle(Shape):
    def __init__(self, width, height):
        self.width = width
        self.height = height

    def area(self):
        return self.width * self.height

    def perimeter(self):
        return 2 * (self.width + self.height)

class Circle(Shape):
    def __init__(self, radius):
        self.radius = radius

    def area(self):
        return 3.14159 * self.radius ** 2

    def perimeter(self):
        return 2 * 3.14159 * self.radius

# Usage
# shapes = [Shape()]  # This would raise TypeError
shapes = [Rectangle(5, 4), Circle(3)]

for shape in shapes:
    print(f"Area: {shape.area()}, Perimeter: {shape.perimeter()}")

# Output:
# Area: 20, Perimeter: 18
# Area: 28.27431, Perimeter: 18.84954

In this example:

• Shape is an abstract base class that defines the interface for all shapes.
• Rectangle and Circle are concrete classes that implement the Shape interface.
• We can’t instantiate Shape directly, but we can use it as a common type for all shapes.

Implementing abstraction in Python

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While abstract base classes provide a formal way to define interfaces in Python, abstraction can also be achieved through convention and documentation. Here’s an example of abstraction without using ABC:

class Database:
    def connect(self):
        raise NotImplementedError("Subclass must implement abstract method")

    def execute(self, query):
        raise NotImplementedError("Subclass must implement abstract method")

class MySQLDatabase(Database):
    def connect(self):
        print("Connecting to MySQL database...")

    def execute(self, query):
        print(f"Executing MySQL query: {query}")

class PostgreSQLDatabase(Database):
    def connect(self):
        print("Connecting to PostgreSQL database...")

    def execute(self, query):
        print(f"Executing PostgreSQL query: {query}")

def perform_database_operation(database):
    database.connect()
    database.execute("SELECT * FROM users")

# Usage
mysql_db = MySQLDatabase()
postgres_db = PostgreSQLDatabase()

perform_database_operation(mysql_db)
perform_database_operation(postgres_db)

# Output:
# Connecting to MySQL database...
# Executing MySQL query: SELECT * FROM users
# Connecting to PostgreSQL database...
# Executing PostgreSQL query: SELECT * FROM users

In this example:

• Database is an abstract base class (though not using ABC) that defines the interface for all database types.
• MySQLDatabase and PostgreSQLDatabase are concrete implementations.
• perform_database_operation works with any object that adheres to the Database interface.

Design principles and patterns

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Abstraction is a key component of several important design principles and patterns:

1. SOLID Principles:

   • Single Responsibility Principle (SRP).
   • Open/Closed Principle (OCP).
   • Liskov Substitution Principle (LSP).
   • Interface Segregation Principle (ISP).
   • Dependency Inversion Principle (DIP).

2. Design Patterns:

   • Factory method pattern.
   • Abstract factory pattern.
   • Strategy pattern.
   • Template method pattern.

Let’s implement the Strategy Pattern as an example:

from abc import ABC, abstractmethod

class SortStrategy(ABC):
    @abstractmethod
    def sort(self, data):
        pass

class BubbleSort(SortStrategy):
    def sort(self, data):
        print("Performing bubble sort")
        return sorted(data)  # Using Python's built-in sort for simplicity

class QuickSort(SortStrategy):
    def sort(self, data):
        print("Performing quick sort")
        return sorted(data)  # Using Python's built-in sort for simplicity

class Sorter:
    def __init__(self, strategy):
        self.strategy = strategy

    def sort(self, data):
        return self.strategy.sort(data)

# Usage
data = [3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2, 6, 5, 3, 5]

bubble_sorter = Sorter(BubbleSort())
print(bubble_sorter.sort(data))

quick_sorter = Sorter(QuickSort())
print(quick_sorter.sort(data))

# Output:
# Performing bubble sort
# [1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 9]
# Performing quick sort
# [1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 9]

This Strategy Pattern example demonstrates how abstraction allows us to define a family of algorithms, encapsulate each one, and make them interchangeable. The Sorter class doesn’t need to know the details of how each sorting algorithm works; it just knows that it can call the sort method on any SortStrategy object.

References

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1. Gamma, E., Helm, R., Johnson, R., & Vlissides, J. (1994). Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software. Addison-Wesley.
2. Martin, R. C. (2017). Clean Architecture: A Craftsman’s Guide to Software Structure and Design. Prentice Hall.
3. Phillips, D. (2010). Python 3 Object Oriented Programming. Packt Publishing.
4. Lutz, M. (2013). Learning Python: Powerful Object-Oriented Programming. O’Reilly Media.
5. Ramalho, L. (2015). Fluent Python: Clear, Concise, and Effective Programming. O’Reilly Media.
6. Van Rossum, G., Warsaw, B., & Coghlan, N. (2001). PEP 8 – Style Guide for Python Code. Python.org. https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/
7. Python Software Foundation. (n.d.). The Python Standard Library. Python.org. https://docs.python.org/3/library/