[fuckstick]

> Debits/credits concepts can exist (and we can operate on them) without the existence of left/right columns.

Taking this as sympathetically as possible - which is tough - because do you really think the person you are replying to on this forum with the given response does not understand principles in the abstract?? This really is quite condescending.

The entire point of a statement like this is that debit and credit are fundamentally abstract - such that when they have no essential features above their effect on the account.

I mean did you bother to read the clarifying following sentence before you selectively quoted?

[tunesmith]

That seems uncharitable - the person you're replying to is saying that debit/credit are more than fundamentally abstract, and that they have conceptual meaning consistent across all accounts.

[onefuncman]

> conceptual meaning consistent across all accounts.

Except programmers quite often get the conceptual meaning wrong and incorrectly generalize further. Credit and debit just mean increase or decrease in account balance. You cannot know how it affects liabilities or assets without knowing what type of account is being modified.

[rahimnathwani]

"they have conceptual meaning consistent across all accounts"

I like this phrasing. I wish I had used it!