Editing Reification (computer science) (section)

== Data reification vs. data refinement ==
Data reification ([[stepwise refinement]]) involves finding a more concrete representation of the [[abstract data type]]s used in a [[formal specification]].

Data reification is the terminology of the [[Vienna Development Method]] (VDM) that most other people would call data refinement. An example is taking a step towards an implementation by replacing a data representation without a counterpart in the intended implementation language, such as sets, by one that does have a counterpart (such as maps with fixed domains that can be implemented by arrays), or at least one that is closer to having a counterpart, such as sequences. The VDM community prefers the word "reification" over "refinement", as the process has more to do with concretising an idea than with refining it.<ref>[https://www.cs.tcd.ie/FME/original/FAQ/vdm/part13.html Formal Methods Europe, Frequently Asked Questions, part 13] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050312031255/http://www.cs.tcd.ie/FME/original/FAQ/vdm/part13.html |date=2005-03-12 }}.</ref>

For similar usages, see [[Reification (linguistics)]].