In other words, we gain knowledge by abstracting general concepts, ideas, or patterns out of specific examples of data. When confronted with vast amounts of data this might be an arduous task. Furthermore, the amount of data the user is confronted with may be distracting and hinder the discovery of knowledge.
Objects are encodings of ideas, physical entities, immaterial entities, concepts, or patterns.
Objects may be realized in different ways to help the user to overcome his or her specific weaknesses. It also helps to cut down the amount of irrelevant, distracting detail. A good example of this is the boat in Figure 3.3 on page . This approach and the underlying conceptual structure of objects, i.e. object hierarchy, is discussed in Sections 4.2 and 4.5 . by means of the tools provided. Discovery of knowledge is not the only important aspect of abstraction, but retaining the freedom of imagination as well.