DEF/thing

Similar terms and concepts system machine artefact object

Scientific understanding is impossible without abstraction. Moreover, abstraction of the reality into mathematical →models enables scientists to reason about the reality by mathematical means. However, one may need to be very careful about the appropriate level of abstraction. In many fields of computer science one may, for example, identify a machine with its program while in some other fields one may identify a program with its specification, but negligent use of such abstractions may be very confusing. Throughout this taxonomy we distinguish carefully between objects in physical reality - which we shall call things - and mathematical abstraction.

Definition

DEF/thing

An object in physical reality (as opposed to a mathematical object)

Explanation

• Rationality

Relations with other concepts

Things have →properties.

→artefacts are things made for a certain purpose. Engineering is concerned with the systematic construction or Development of →artefacts.

Pragmatics

Software engineering tends to neglect the difference between physical reality and mathematical objects.

Examples

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Open questions

Do things exist? Is there an objective physical reality? Some philosophers deny this.

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This is a definition from Taxonomy of Computer Science (Hanno Wupper et al. 2008).