The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
A concrete operation is, as the name implies, a type of operation. Generally an operation specifies am action on an object. A concrete operation is a more refined type of action. As an operation, a concrete operation specifies an action. In doing this task, a concrete operation also invokes what is termed an implementation. An implementation is a definition of how something is constructed or computed. Put another way, a concrete operation specifies an action on an object and provides information as to how the action will be carried out.
A concrete operation enables an abstract specification of an action to be made tangible--the linking of an object to an action--by specifying the conditions necessary for the action to occur. The concrete operation is used in object-oriented programming languages, such as Java and C++.
For example, an abstract concept could be drawing data. The action, however, cannot occur, as no information is available as to how the drawing will be accomplished. A concrete operation would provide the instructions or the link to the information necessary to complete the drawing.
Another example of a concrete operation is sending a message to a specified recipient. To accomplish this task, the message is linked with a corresponding operation. When the message is accepted, the operation is triggered and the routing of the message to the recipient occurs. The simplest form of a concrete operation is a sequence of messages, each of which is being send to a different recipient.