MATHEMATIZING ABSTRACT DATA TYPE S Charles L . Silve r Southeastern Lousiana Universit y Department of Computer Scienc e Hammond, LA 70402 Sometimes understanding Abstract Data Types (ADT's) is difficult for students . The concepts of type, structure, data structure, and abstract data structure can b e confusing . Moreover, different textbooks define these basic concepts in somewha t different ways . According to Daniel McCracken, the definitions of such terms a s `data type', `data structure', and `abstract data type' have not yet becom e "completely stabilized" in computer science (p . 20) . This paper proposes one way o f standardizing definitions of basic data structures terms, so that they are precise , well--grounded mathematically, and can be easily and clearly explained to students . Let us first look at a simple mathematical structure, consisting of the set . {0,1} together with "+" defined so that 0 + 0 = 0, 1 + 1 = 0, and the sum of 0 and 1 in any order is 1 . We can write this structure more formally as : < {0 , 1} , + >, where the angle brackets (< >) provide a more pictorial representation
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