Abstract (2013): Finding the ‘right’ level of abstraction for patterns

Baumgartner, Peter, and Christian Kohls. 2013. “Finding the ‘right’ Level of Abstraction for Patterns.” In Proceedings of the 20th Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs. Monticello, IL, USA: Hillside.

Patterns are abstractions of multiple instances to a core invariant structure of the solution. But what level of abstractions to choose? As each abstraction means a loss of information, we need to think about which abstractions are justified to have patterns that are flexible, open and instructive. We will discuss different types of abstractions and point out what has to be considered in this abstractions process. This will help us to build patterns that are more suitable in their practical usage and to generate a pattern languages that are more consistent and complete.