Abstract Data Type(ADT)

Abstract Data Type(ADT):
    An Abstract Data Type is a set of operations. Abstract data types are mathematical abstractions. Objects such as lists, sets, and graphs, along with their operations, can be viewed as abstract data types, just as integers, reals, and booleans are data types. Integers, reals, and booleans have operations associated with them, and so do abstract data types. For the set ADT, we might have such operations as union, intersection, size, and complement. 
     The basic idea is that the implementation of these operations is written once in the program, and any other part of the program that needs to perform an operation on the ADT can do so by calling the appropriate function. If for some reason implementation details need to change, it should be easy to do so by merely changing the routines that perform the ADT operations. This change would be completely transparent to the rest of the program.
     There is no rule telling us which operations must be supported for each ADT; this is a design decision. Error handling and tie breaking (where appropriate) are also generally up to the program designer.