“ADT refers to the basic mathematical concept that defines the data type, and data type is a collection of values and a set of operations on those values.”
Explanation
Consider the list data structure, we don’t care how the list is being implemented whether through an array, singly linked list, doubly linked list or circular linked list. It has been witnessed that in these four implementations of the list, the interface remained the same i.e. it implements the same methods like add, get, next, start and remove etc.
We’re not concerned with the internal implementation.
The implementation of these abstract data type can be changed any time.
This distinction will always be there. Sometimes, the source code of classes is not provided. We will be provided libraries, as standard libraries are available with the compiler. These classes are in compiled form i.e. are in object form or in binary form. You can view the interface in .h file (header file).
REFERENCE: CS301 Handouts (page 48 and 49)
