Design of anything, from an ERP application to an embedded software system to a hardware device to a mechanical object, is done at some level of abstraction. Simply, a level of abstraction is the ...

Machine code: the ones and zeroes are an abstract representation of the electromagnetic signals flowing through the wires and computer chips. Assembler: hides away the machine code, allowing a ...

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.

(2) The ever-increasing complexity of software. Modern operating systems and applications are huge in size compared to software in personal computers in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are ...