Abstraction

What is Abstraction?

Abstraction means hiding complex implementation details and showing only the necessary features of an object.

In Python, abstraction is often achieved using abstract base classes (from the abc module). These classes define methods that must be created in any subclass.

Basic Example

from abc import ABC, abstractmethod

class Vehicle(ABC):
    @abstractmethod
    def start_engine(self):
        pass

class Motorcycle(Vehicle):
    def start_engine(self):
        print("Motorcycle engine started!")

bike = Motorcycle()
bike.start_engine()  # Output: Motorcycle engine started!

Real World Use Cases

• Payment Gateways: An abstract Payment class with a pay() method. Each payment type (credit card, PayPal) implements their own pay() logic.

• Messaging Apps: An abstract MessageSender class with a send() method. Subclasses like EmailSender and SMSSender implement sending for different channels.

• Hardware Control: Abstract classes for Printer, Scanner ensure all devices have certain required methods, regardless of how they work internally.

Key Points

• Helps you design systems where you only care about what an object does, not how it does it.

• Abstract classes can't be instantiated directly; they define a contract for subclasses.

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