Abstractions don’t give you a pass from understanding

via Dave Copeland :ruby:: One thing I have learned over many years is that you must understand whatever an abstraction is abstracting in order to both evaluate it and wield it effectively. I call this the Katz Conjecture after Yehuda Katz mentioning this in a conference talk:

Dave Copeland on NailDrivin5: The Katz Conjecture: You Must Understand What an Abstraction Abstracts

(My take: This absolutely matches my own experience. The promise of an abstraction is that it trades away a complex concept for a simpler one. But … when an abstraction leaks – and this often happens – you wind up needing to have deep understanding of both the abstraction layer and the thing it was intending to “simplify” away. So … beware the hidden costs of abstractions.)