[heretoo]

> But that's not what an abstraction is! UNIX pipes are maximally low-level

To put a spin on it, maximally low-level within it's particular domain, perhaps, sitting on top of the transistors below them, sitting on top of quantum physics.

Thinking a bit further, an abstraction appears to be the mapping in both directions between two domains. That being said, the two domains themselves, are independent, and don't appear to be the abstraction.

The verb "abstract" would mean we are mapping from one domain to the other.

I think "homomorphism" is the mathematical term for what I'm describing.

What's my point? We can always go lower. :)