An experimental evaluation of data abstraction

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the use of data abstraction and to assess its effects on program modification. Programs developed using data-abstraction were found to be substantially larger than equivalent programs developed without it, and the larger abstract-data programs were more difficult to modify. No significant differences in programming error rates were found between programs with or without abstract datatypes. A subtle violation of one of data abstraction's primary objectives, hiding data representation details, was observed. Programmers showed a strong tendency to include application-specific processing within procedures given data access privileges.