Beginning C# 2008 Objects: From Concept to Code

2.4. Inherent Challenges

Despite the fact that abstraction is such a natural process for human beings, developing an appropriate model for a software system is perhaps the most difficult aspect of software engineering because

• There are an unlimited number of possibilities. Abstraction is in the eye of the beholder to a certain extent: several different observers working independently are almost guaranteed to arrive at different models. Whose is the best? Passionate arguments have ensued!

• To further complicate matters, there is virtually never only one "best" or "correct" model, only "better" or "worse" models relative to the problem to be solved. The same situation can be modeled in a variety of different, equally valid ways. As you'll see when ...