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Concept
High- and low-level
Summary
High-level and low-level, as technical terms, are used to classify, describe and point to specific goals of a systematic operation; and are applied in a wide range of contexts, such as, for instance, in domains as widely varied as computer science and business administration.
High-level describe those operations that are more abstract and general in nature; wherein the overall goals and systemic features are typically more concerned with the wider, macro system as a whole.
Low-level describes more specific individual components of a systematic operation, focusing on the details of rudimentary micro functions rather than macro, complex processes. Low-level classification is typically more concerned with individual components within the system and how they operate.
Features which emerge only at a high level of description are known as epiphenomena.
Due to the nature of complex systems, the high-level description will often be completely different from the low-level one; and, therefore, the (different) descriptions that each deliver are consequent upon the level at which each (differently) direct their study. For example,
there are features of an ant colony that are not features of any individual ant;
there are features of the human mind that are not known to be descriptive of individual neurons in the brain;
there are features of oceans which are not features of any individual water molecule; and
there are features of a human personality that are not features of any cell in a body.
In computer science, software is typically divided into two types: high-level end-user applications software (such as word processors, databases, video games, etc.), and low-level systems software (such as operating systems, hardware drivers, etc.).As such, high-level applications typically rely on low-level applications to function.In terms of programming, a high-level programming language is one which has a relatively high level of abstraction, and manipulates conceptual functions in a structured manner.
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