Abstraction
Aka general abstract nonsense. Abstract from sets and relations to categories and morphisms.
Category
(Class ob(C) of objects, morphisms or arrows hom(C), composition op: \(\cdot\)) with \(\cdot\) identity, associative \(\cdot\). Category Eg: Set, \(Vect_{k}\).
Small category: aka CAT: both ob(C) and hom(C) are sets, rather than classes.
Morphisms
Homomorphism: A structure (identity, inverse elements, and binary ops) preserving funciton f: f(x)=3x preserves addition. Isomorphism: both f and \(f^{-1}\) are homomorphisms. Endomorphism: homomorphism of a mathematical object to itself. Automorphism is both isomorphism and an endomorphism.
Functors
Structure preserving mapping between categories and their morphisms.