In visual basic, Abstraction is a principle of object-oriented programming language (OOP) and it is useful to hide the implementation details and display only the essential features of the object.
In Abstraction, by using access modifiers we can hide the required details of the object and expose only the necessary methods and properties through the reference of the object.
In real-time, laptop is the perfect example of abstraction in visual basic. A laptop that consists of many things such as processor, RAM, motherboard, LCD screen, camera, USB ports, battery, speakers, etc. To use it, we just need to know how to operate the laptop by switching it on, we don’t need to know how internally all the parts are working. Here, the laptop is an object which is designed to expose only the required features by hiding its implementation details.
In object-oriented programming, class is the perfect example of abstraction. In visual basic, we can create a class with required methods, properties and we can expose only necessary methods and properties using access modifiers based on our requirements.
Following is the example of defining a class with required methods, properties and exposing it by using access modifiers to achieve abstraction functionality.
Public Class Laptop
Private brand As String
Private model As String
Public Property Lbrand() As String
Get
Return brand
End Get
Set(ByVal value As String)
brand = value
End Set
End Property
Public Property Lmodel() As String
Get
Return model
End Get
Set(ByVal value As String)
model = value
End Set
End Property
Public Sub LaptopDetails()
Console.WriteLine("Brand: " & Lbrand)
Console.WriteLine("Model: " & Lmodel)
End Sub
Public Sub LaptopKeyboard()
Console.WriteLine("Type using Keyword")
End Sub
Private Sub MotherBoardInfo()
Console.WriteLine("MotheBoard Information")
End Sub
Private Sub InternalProcessor()
Console.WriteLine("Processor Information")
End Sub
End Class
If you observe the above code, we defined a Laptop class with required fields, properties and methods with Public, Private access modifiers to achieve an abstraction functionality by hiding and exposing some of the methods and properties based on our requirements.
Here, the Public modifier is useful to allow defined fields, properties and methods to access outside of the class and the Private modifier is useful to hide or restrict access of required fields, properties and methods from the outside of class.
By creating an instance of Laptop class we can access the defined fields, properties and methods. Following is the pictorial representation of creating an instance of a class and accessing fields, properties and methods.
If you observe the above diagram, we are exposing only the necessary properties and methods outside of the class by using Public and Private access modifiers.
Following is the example of implementing an abstraction functionality by allowing only a few properties and methods to access outside of the class in a visual basic programming language.
Module Module1
Public Class Laptop
Private brand As String
Private model As String
Public Property Lbrand() As String
Get
Return brand
End Get
Set(ByVal value As String)
brand = value
End Set
End Property
Public Property Lmodel() As String
Get
Return model
End Get
Set(ByVal value As String)
model = value
End Set
End Property
Public Sub LaptopDetails()
Console.WriteLine("Brand: " & Lbrand)
Console.WriteLine("Model: " & Lmodel)
End Sub
Public Sub LaptopKeyboard()
Console.WriteLine("Type using Keyword")
End Sub
Private Sub MotherBoardInfo()
Console.WriteLine("MotheBoard Information")
End Sub
Private Sub InternalProcessor()
Console.WriteLine("Processor Information")
End Sub
End Class
Sub Main()
Dim l As Laptop = New Laptop()
l.Lbrand = "Dell"
l.Lmodel = "Inspiron 14R"
l.LaptopDetails()
Console.WriteLine("Press Enter Key to Exit..")
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module
If you observe the above example, we defined fields, properties, and methods with Public, Private access modifiers to allow or disallow properties, methods access based on requirements.
When we execute the above visual basic program, we will get the result as shown below.
The following are the differences between abstraction and encapsulation in a visual basic programming language.
| Abstraction | Encapsulation |
|---|---|
| It is useful to hide unwanted data and show only the required properties and methods. | It is useful to bind data members and member functions into a single unit to prevent outsiders to access it directly. |
This is how we can use the abstraction to hide the implementation details and show only essential features based on our requirements in a visual basic programing language.