Let's say a ceiling fan is running. From the outside, we can only see the rotation of the fan, but we cannot see how the motor works inside or how the various components are connected. This hidden part is "Abstraction", which the user cannot directly see or understand.
Now, all the components inside the fan are covered by an outer casing, so they cannot be seen from the outside. This outer layer is "Encapsulation".
Nozibul Islam @nozibul_islam_113b1d5334f
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Abstraction vs Encapsulation
Publish Date: Feb 16
23 2Comments 2 total
Nozibul IslamFeb 18, 2025I have a lot of confusion regarding OOP. I've received different opinions from many experienced engineers, which has only made me more confused. Personally, I don't like Inheritance very much, and I believe the "is-A" relationship has been given too much importance. It's such that many people think the "is-A" relationship should only be through inheritance, but in reality, it depends on how you define it yourself. For example, Admin and User can have an "is-A" relationship with each other, but sometimes they can also have a "has-A" relationship, depending on how we define them differently.
Data models best to OOP
An IS-A joining data = inheritance. Multiple IS-A joins, multiple inheritance (interfaces in some languages facilitate multiple inheritance)
HAS-A relationship = encapsulation
More often we have HAS-A relationships than IS-A relationships
Very, very simple to comprehend
I hate “prefer encapsulation” or “balance inheritance and encapsulation”. There is no rule. Meaning our code becomes inconsistent