Duplication isn't necessarily 'messy'. In the example, it's very easy to see what's going on, even if it's repetitive, since it's fairly uniform. Adding an abs

Duplication isn't necessarily 'messy'. In the example, it's very easy to see what's going on, even if it's repetitive, since it's fairly uniform. Adding an abstraction layer often adds complexity, and really does get messy/complex if you subsequently have to deal with specil cases and exceptions.