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Programming without data abstraction is like using televisions with no control knobs. Instead of using a remote control for practically everything, imagine that you have to open up the back of a television, and adjust individual variable resistors and variable capacitors to select channels, change volume and change brightness.
It would have been inconvenient and dangerous! Not to mention that you need to be an electrical engineer in order to know what to do. Furthermore, when new televisions with new technologies become available, you'll need to learn the new technology before you can even change the brightness setting!
It is the same with programming without data abstraction: inconvenient and dangerous.
Data abstraction is the process and result of defining the interface to data. Think of ``what do I want to do with this'', and not ``how do I accomplish that''.