Abstraction vs Compression

Abstraction and compression are used interchangeably. What is the difference?

In a restaurant setting the restaurant manager or waiter has to deal with abstractions on how a food is cooked, presented to the customer. All they need to know is how long dishes take to make, how much does it cost and is it doable on that particular day. The kitchen is a black box for these people, they place the order and expect an output, some times even if it is doable or not. It is not that the manager and waiter are not capable of understanding what is going on inside the kitchen, it is just not judicious of their mind space.

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Inside the kitchen abstractions are not productive. Each person needs to know what the other person is doing and they will use compressed language. For example, lime juice marination means the exact same way the marinade is prepared as the chef intended and the cook does exactly that. If there is a change they discuss the details. It is the process and the outcome together.

In software development business works with the engineers in abstract terms. It is a black box for them. Engineers work within themselves using compressed terms, each one knows the exact steps that will be taken by the others. From the outside both looks like abstraction, it is not.

Originally published at dino.xyz/Recruiterbox