Re: functional decomposition and abstraction.
Tom Anderson wrote:
On Mon, 1 Sep 2008, Lew wrote:
Eileen wrote:
here's one of our new objectives: "Explain functional decomposition
and abstraction."
<http://www.google.com/search?q=computer+programming+"functional+decomposition">
of which the first hit
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_decomposition>
is an awfully good start.
Is it? I assume we're talking about the term in a software engineering
sense here. Here's the sum total of what the article has to say about that:
Computer programming and software engineering
For most of the same reasons already stipulated, functional decomposition
has a prominent role in computer programming, where a major goal is to
modularize processes to the greatest extent possible. In the early
decades of computer programming, this was manifested as the "art of
subroutining," as it was called by some prominent practitioners.
YMMV. You seem to be confusing a "start" with a "finish". Perhaps you like
one of the other "about 13,900" hits better.
Which is about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
Personally I find that it helps to understand the underlying concept so that
one groks better the specialization in computer jargon. Just about all these
fancy computer-science terms are adaptations of terminology from mathematics
and other disciplines. Understanding the referent helps one understand the
reference, IMO. As I said, YMMV.
--
Lew