Level Of Abstraction

"Where shall I begin, please Your Majesty?" he asked.

"Begin at the beginning," the King said very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end - then stop."

-- from AlicesAdventuresInWonderland by LewisCarroll

The phrase suggests that abstraction is layered or hierarchical. Perhaps in some cases this is a UsefulLie, but I often find pitfalls with the idea of it being hierarchical. Different users often need different perspectives of the same item. Hierarchies don't always deal with this well.

"Level of abstraction" just categorizes how abstract something is. No matter what perspective a user needs, they can't eat a menu.

But something could plausibly be "abstracted" along several independent dimensions.

See also LevelsOfAbstraction

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