Software that translates a high-level request into the low-level commands required to perform the operation. The most common abstraction layer is the programming interface (API) between an application ...

The amount of complexity by which a system is viewed or programmed. The higher the level, the less detail. The lower the level, the more detail. The highest level of abstraction is the entire system.

Abstraction is one of the four cornerstones of Computer Science. It involves filtering out – essentially, ignoring - the characteristics that we don't need in order to concentrate on those that we do.