Python Day #18: What Is Abstraction in Object-Oriented Programming?
See what abstraction in object-oriented programming means, why it matters, and how to use it in Python with simple real-world examples.
We’ve covered the essence of Object-oriented programming in the last few lessons. Today it’s time to touch on the fourth and final pillar of OOP, Abstraction.
So far we’ve covered classes and objects and exploring the first three pillars. These being: Encapsulation, Inheritance and Polymorphism.
All big words and concepts to those looking in on the outside. But here I broke it all down to concrete steps to teach you guys exactly what these are and how we implement them to better structure out our code.
In this lesson, we’re moving on to the final pillar of OOP — one that will close out our journey of OOP, Abstraction. No, I’m not talking about abstract art, although code is really just art that does something. This is a new form of Abstraction.
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Boiling it down, Abstraction is really the concept of hiding more complex details and only showing the key features of an object to the user.
It allows for us to interact with an object through a simplified interface, without needing to understand the intricate internal workings. Making them easy to deal with and really allow us to create a more reusable flow to our code.
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Each week’s lesson is designed to build directly on the last, giving you the tools and logical thinking skills you need to create a solid programming foundation.
Recap of Polymorphism in OOP
Let’s do a quick recap on the term, Polymorphism so we can keep building on this concept of Abstraction.
Polymorphism lets us to define a method in the parent class and then override it in child classes, each giving it a different behavior.
Why in the world would I want to do this? Well because it allows you to write code that’s more flexible, scalable, and easier to maintain.
You can call the same method name without worrying about which exact type of object you’re working with because Python will figure it out at runtime.
Think of it like this: If I tell both a dog and a cat to “speak,” the dog is hopefully going to bark, and the cat might meow. At least I hope that’s what we would hear. The command is the same, but the response depends on the object.
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Abstraction in Object-Oriented Programming
Simply put, abstraction is really just about keeping things simple. It hides the complicated details and only shows you the parts you actually need to work with.
Think about driving a car. You don’t need to understand how the engine burns fuel, how the gears shift, or how the brake system works. All you care about is that when you press the gas pedal, the car moves forward.
That’s abstraction—you get a simple way to interact with something, while all the complicated stuff stays hidden under the hood.
In programming, it works the same way. Abstraction lets us create methods that act like rules or guidelines. The parent class says, “These methods need to exist,” but it’s up to the child classes to decide how those methods actually work.
The Fourth Pillar of OOP in Action
Let’s talk about why we’d even use abstraction and what it really does.
Say we have a parent class called Animal. Inside that class, we create a method called speak(). But here’s the thing—by default, this method doesn’t actually do anything.
The reason is simple: every animal makes a different sound. A dog barks, a cat meows, a cow moos. We don’t know the details yet, but we do know that every animal should be able to “speak” in its own way.
So in the parent class, we just set up the method and leave it empty with the pass keyword. That’s our way of saying, “Every animal needs this method, but the child classes will decide how it works.”
Here’s the key point: when a class like Dog or Cat inherits from Animal, it’s required to actually write out the speak() method. If it doesn’t, Python will throw an error and remind us we skipped something.
That’s the real strength of abstraction. It makes sure every class that inherits from the parent sticks to the same rules, so no matter how many animals we create, they’ll all have a speak() method, and none of them can forget to implement it.
Take a moment and look through the code above. Notice the imports I have and the decorator function I use in the ABC (Abstract Base Class). This is what really creates the structure of an ABC class.
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Abstraction in Code
Let me now move away from the classic animal or car examples for a second and look at something a bit more real-world.
Let’s think about a payment system. No matter what kind of payment it is, the one thing we know for sure is that it has to be processed. But how it gets processed depends on the type of payment.
A credit card charge works one way, PayPal works another, and if you throw cryptocurrency into the mix, that’s different too.
While these are all forms of payment and the merchant still receives their money one way or another, they are all different. This is exactly where abstraction comes into play.
We could create a parent class called Payment. This parent class doesn’t actually know how to process a payment.
Instead, it just sets the rule: “Every payment type must have a method called process_payment(amount).” This makes sure anyone who inherits this class follows these given rules that we set for our program.
Notice how the method has no code inside it? I just gave it the keyword, pass. This is just use creating a method which is acting like a rule. It’s because we’re not telling Python how to process the payment here. We’re just saying that every payment class must have this method.
Now that there is the idea of a payment processor we can build out some classes for the different forms of payment like I have below.
These two children are inheriting the Payment class and then they are completing the payment_process method which is completing the rule that we set for the method.
Then we can try them out. Here is a great time to tie in polymorphism as we covered this in the last lesson. Abstraction and Polymorphism work really well together so we can now use them together.
The whole thing of Abstraction here is not fancy art, no. But rather the parent class (Payment) laid down the rule, and the child classes (CreditCardPayment and PayPalPayment) filled in the details in their own way.
Now let’s say your app needs to support Bitcoin payments later becasue we are in the crypto age. You don’t have to rewrite any of your existing code. You just add a new class:
And just like that, it fits right in with the others.
That’s the whole idea behind abstraction. It lets you hide the messy details and just focus on the important part: making sure the right methods exist. It keeps your code organized, easier to maintain, and ready for the future.
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Wrapping Up Lesson Eighteen
Abstraction sounds like another big word, but at its core it’s pretty simple. It’s just about focusing on what’s important and hiding the stuff you don’t need to see.
By setting up abstract classes and methods, you create a kind of blueprint that makes sure every child class follows the same rules, while still letting each one do things in its own way.
The benefit is huge: your code stays cleaner, easier to work with, and ready to grow. If you ever need to add something new—like another payment option, a new feature, or a new type of object—you don’t have to rip your code apart. You just build a new class, give it the methods it needs, and it fits right in.
It’s the same idea as using your phone. You tap an app, it opens, and you use it. You don’t need to know what’s happening behind the scenes, you just care that it works. That’s abstraction in action.
With this, you’ve now learned three of the four pillars of object-oriented programming: Encapsulation, Inheritance, Polymorphism, and Abstraction.
Let’s keep moving forward with Day #19 next week.
Hope you all have an amazing week nerds ~ Josh (Chief Nerd Officer 🤓)
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