In software, an abstraction provides access while hiding details that otherwise might make access more challenging. It focuses attention on details of greater importance. Examples include the abstract data type which separates use from the representation of data and functions that form a call tree that is more general at the base and more specific towards the leaves.
Rationale
Computing mostly operates independently of the concrete world. The hardware implements a model of computation that is interchangeable with others. The software is structured in architectures to enable humans to create the enormous systems by concentrating on a few issues at a time. These architectures are made of specific choices of abstractions. Greenspun’s tenth rule is an aphorism on how such an architecture is both inevitable and complex.
Language abstraction is a central form of abstraction in computing: new artificial languages are developed to express specific aspects of a system. Modeling languages help in planning. Computer languages can be processed with a computer. An example of this abstraction
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Source: Wikipedia
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