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by userbinator 3900 days ago
Abstractions are important as they reduce complexity, and simplify operations.

...but only when used correctly. Abstraction is a means to an end, not the end itself. Unfortunately, years of CS education seem to have taught most people that it's the other way around, causing massive increases in design complexity that are only justified by dogmatic adherence to "more abstraction is better". Some programming language communities are more disposed to this effect than others (e.g. Java.)

Correct application of abstraction is not common in mainstream software, and rather difficult to describe, but the simplicity and clarity is unmistakable when one encounters it. The occasional articles on HN about seemingly impossibly tiny programs are good examples.

This article is a bit "X considered harmful" reactionary but I see their point - often, software today is on the side of far too much abstraction.
2 comments
ykumar6 3900 days ago
" Unfortunately, years of CS education seem to have taught most people that it's the other way around, causing massive increases in design complexity that are only justified by dogmatic adherence to "more abstraction is better"."

Abstractions only create design complexity when they are applied incorrectly. Abstractions should scale horizontally across a layer of the software stack (VMs, Storage - NFS, APIs, etc). If you're create a single-use abstraction, it's not really an abstraction but a complexity

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vezzy-fnord 3900 days ago
NFS is pretty much a canonical example of a poor abstraction.
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ykumar6 3900 days ago
The real problem with abstractions it promotes the lowest common denominator. If you have lots of different storage options, an abstraction will try to abstract them and create a standardized interface.

But this is a trade-off. The real benefit comes in simplifying the programming model and not forcing developers to read through manuals figuring out how to flip a bit on a hard drive. Instead, they can leverage open-source and libraries that rely on that standardization to deliver most of the value (with a small perf hit)

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