Abstract Data Type (AST)

Intro

An abstract data type (ADT) is a theoretical model defining a data structure in terms of its behavior and supported operations without specifying its implementation.

ADTs define:

• A set of values
• A set of operations
• The behavioral rules of those operations

Abstract Data Types

• Only the essentials are exposed, omitting implementation details (Abstraction).
• Data and its related operations are bundled into a single unit (Encapsulation).
• You can change the underlying implementation (e.g., from an Array to a Linked List) without affecting how the rest of the program uses the ADT (Data Independence)

Abstract Data Types

• List
• Stack
• Queue
• Set
• Tuple

Data Structures

A data structure is a concrete implementation of an ADT.