The best lesson that I learned on my first large development project was that there is a big difference in the need for abstractions and black boxes in implementation versus design. All code should be written using a black box approach... no matter whether you're programming in SmallTalk or Assembly. (Though some languages make it easier than others:-).
The big difference is that when you are actually designing and coding (verbs!) you have to look into those black boxes. If you don't understand the subsystems/objects/subroutes that your code interfaces with, you won't know what boundary conditions to test, what assumptions the other subsystems are making, etc.
So now I always write well abstracted code (just like your Comp Sci 101 prof taught), but design with the big picture in mind.
Don't forget the least suprizing loop hole of all. Politicians are still allowed to call to beg for your money and your vote. I wonder how that made it in!
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The big difference is that when you are actually designing and coding (verbs!) you have to look into those black boxes. If you don't understand the subsystems/objects/subroutes that your code interfaces with, you won't know what boundary conditions to test, what assumptions the other subsystems are making, etc.
So now I always write well abstracted code (just like your Comp Sci 101 prof taught), but design with the big picture in mind.
Don't forget the least suprizing loop hole of all. Politicians are still allowed to call to beg for your money and your vote. I wonder how that made it in!