RedDotRubyConf 2014: Magenta is a Lie - and other tales of abstraction

Abstraction is a fundamental approach in programming. It shapes how we solve problems, it is a defining factor in how we view the internals of software and even the world surrounding it and us. The questions of when, how and what to abstract are some of the biggest in computer science and can make the difference between good and bad code. This talk is a fresh take on different facets of abstractions we encounter, build on and have to fight with.

Transcript

1. Magenta is a Lie
   and other tales of abstraction
   

   View Slide

2. View Slide

3. View Slide

4. View Slide

5. View Slide

6. View Slide

7. View Slide

8. Abstraction
   

   View Slide

9. –Zachary Scott
   “Too much magic… Um, you mean in general?
   It can make make stuff simpler to understand, if
   that’s your goal. But it’s easy to go too far.”
   

   View Slide

10. View Slide

11. Basis of Science
    

    View Slide

12. View Slide

13. View Slide

14. View Slide

15. View Slide

16. Picking the right
    abstraction is crucial
    

    View Slide

17. In Computer Science,
    everything is an
    abstraction
    

    View Slide

18. View Slide

19. With a lot of room for
    interpretation
    

    View Slide

20. This makes it similar to
    art
    

    View Slide

21. View Slide

22. Abstracting away
    Semantics
    

    View Slide

23. Generic Algorithms
    

    View Slide

24. View Slide

25. View Slide

26. View Slide

27. View Slide

28. Data Abstraction
    

    View Slide

29. “Dataless
    Programming”
    RM Balzer - 1967
    

    View Slide

30. View Slide

31. View Slide

32. View Slide

33. Control Abstraction
    

    View Slide

34. Subroutines
    

    View Slide

35. “Go To Statement
    considered harmfull”
    Edsger Dijkstra, 1968
    

    View Slide

36. “Protection in
    Programming
    Languages"
    James H. Morris Jr., 1973
    

    View Slide

37. View Slide

38. You should be able to
    reason about modules in
    isolation
    

    View Slide

39. “Global Variables
    Considered Harmful”
    W.A. Wulf, M. Shaw, 1973
    

    View Slide

40. Data Abstraction +
    Control Abstraction =
    Object Oriented Programming?
    

    View Slide

41. View Slide

42. #alankayholdingthings
    

    View Slide

43. –Alan Kay
    “OOP to me means only messaging, local
    retention and protection and hiding of state-
    process, and extreme late-binding of all things.”
    

    View Slide

44. View Slide

45. View Slide

46. We make the rules
    

    View Slide

47. Some rules enable
    good programs
    (For some definition of good.)
    

    View Slide

48. Single Responsibility
    Principle
    

    View Slide

49. Liskov Substitution
    Principle
    

    View Slide

50. Law of Demeter
    

    View Slide

51. View Slide

52. Don’t abstract too
    much, too early
    

    View Slide

53. View Slide

54. Is inheritance a good
    abstraction?
    

    View Slide

55. Used for type hierarchy
    and implementation
    sharing
    

    View Slide

56. View Slide

57. Strong external
    abstractions allow weak
    internal abstractions
    

    View Slide

58. Distributed
    Applications
    

    View Slide

59. View Slide

60. Abstraction as a
    Security Issue
    

    View Slide

61. Almost all attacks rely on
    switching up or down
    abstraction levels
    

    View Slide

62. View Slide

63. Social Engineering
    

    View Slide

64. View Slide

65. Abstraction
    

    View Slide

66. UI as Abstraction
    

    View Slide

67. Metaphor
    

    View Slide

68. View Slide

69. Colour
    

    View Slide

70. Light
    

    View Slide

71. View Slide

72. View Slide

73. View Slide

74. Trichromacy
    

    View Slide

75. View Slide

76. View Slide

77. View Slide

78. View Slide

79. View Slide

80. View Slide

81. View Slide

82. View Slide

83. View Slide

84. ?
    

    View Slide

85. ?
    

    View Slide

86. View Slide

87. View Slide

88. Is magenta real?
    

    View Slide

89. #
    FF00FF
    

    View Slide

90. View Slide

91. View Slide

92. Leaky abstraction?
    

    View Slide

93. View Slide

94. View Slide

95. Space
    

    View Slide

96. View Slide

97. View Slide

98. View Slide

99. View Slide

100. Tetrachromacy
     

     View Slide

101. View Slide

102. 2-3% of all women?
     50% of all women?
     

     View Slide

103. Gene on X
     chromosome
     OPN1MW and OPN1MW2
     

     View Slide

104. Women could have up
     to six colour cones
     

     View Slide

105. Mostly dysfunctional
     

     View Slide

106. At least two confirmed
     cases
     

     View Slide

107. Seeing millions of
     more colours
     

     View Slide

108. View Slide

109. View Slide

110. View Slide

111. View Slide

112. View Slide

113. View Slide

114. Why dysfunctional?
     (my own unscientific theory)
     

     View Slide

115. We don’t see colours
     with our eyes
     

     View Slide

116. We see colours with
     our brain
     

     View Slide

117. Our brain adjusts
     colours
     

     View Slide

118. We don’t see colours we
     don’t have an abstract
     concept for
     

     View Slide

119. View Slide

120. When we learn to speak, colour
     perception switches from left
     brain side to right brain side
     

     View Slide

121. View Slide

122. Himba Tribe (Namibia)
     

     View Slide

123. View Slide

124. zuzu: dark shades of blue, red, green
     and purple
     !
     vapa: white, some shades of yellow
     !
     buru: some shades of green and blue
     !
     dambu: some shades of green, red
     and brown
     

     View Slide

125. View Slide

126. View Slide

127. View Slide

128. Abstraction happens
     in our minds
     

     View Slide

129. All abstraction
     

     View Slide

130. OOP happens in our
     mind, not our computer
     

     View Slide

131. UI happens in our
     mind, not our computer
     

     View Slide

132. View Slide

133. View Slide

134. “Anything that is in the world when you’re born
     is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part
     of the way the world works.
     !
     Anything that's invented between when you’re
     fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and
     revolutionary and you can probably get a
     career in it.
     !
     Anything invented after you're thirty-five is
     against the natural order of things”
     –Douglas Adams
     

     View Slide

135. View Slide

136. Countries exist in our
     mind
     

     View Slide

137. In our collective mind
     

     View Slide

138. Changing abstractions is
     a basic principle of
     innovation and progress
     

     View Slide

139. View Slide

140. Is magenta a colour?
     

     View Slide

141. View Slide

142. Yes
     

     View Slide

143. View Slide

144. Thanks!
     @konstantinhaase
     me@rkh.im
     

     View Slide