Abstractions in programming, while hiding complexity and creating more distance to that machine code, help programmers get closer to the actual problems they’re trying to solve.

Operating at higher levels of reflective abstraction enabled these students to consider concepts as both processes and abstract objects. Developing this ability was found to be critical in achieving a ...

Ariely, Dan, and Michael I. Norton. "Psychology and Experimental Economics: A Gap in Abstraction." Current Directions in Psychological Science 16, no. 6 (December 2007): 336–339.