High- and low-level
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High-level and low-level, as technical terms, are used to classify, describe and point to specific
goal A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...
s 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 Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
and
business administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...
. 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.


Differences

Due to the nature of
complex systems A complex system is a system composed of many components that may interact with one another. Examples of complex systems are Earth's global climate, organisms, the human brain, infrastructure such as power grid, transportation or communication s ...
, 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 An ant colony is a population of ants, typically from a single species, capable of maintaining their complete lifecycle. Ant colonies are eusocial, communal, and efficiently organized and are very much like those found in other social Hymen ...
that are not features of any individual
ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...
; * there are features of the human
mind The mind is that which thinks, feels, perceives, imagines, remembers, and wills. It covers the totality of mental phenomena, including both conscious processes, through which an individual is aware of external and internal circumstances ...
that are not known to be descriptive of individual
neuron A neuron (American English), neurone (British English), or nerve cell, is an membrane potential#Cell excitability, excitable cell (biology), cell that fires electric signals called action potentials across a neural network (biology), neural net ...
s in the
brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...
; * there are features of
ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...
s which are not features of any individual water molecule; and * there are features of a human
personality Personality is any person's collection of interrelated behavioral, cognitive, and emotional patterns that comprise a person’s unique adjustment to life. These interrelated patterns are relatively stable, but can change over long time per ...
that are not features of any cell in a body.


Uses

* 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, firmwares, etc.).
As such, high-level applications typically rely on low-level applications to function.
In terms of programming, a
high-level programming language A high-level programming language is a programming language with strong Abstraction (computer science), abstraction from the details of the computer. In contrast to low-level programming languages, it may use natural language ''elements'', be ea ...
is one which has a relatively high level of abstraction, and manipulates conceptual functions in a structured manner.
A
low-level programming language A low-level programming language is a programming language that provides little or no Abstraction (computer science), abstraction from a computer's instruction set architecture, memory or underlying physical hardware; commands or functions in the ...
is one like
assembly language In computing, assembly language (alternatively assembler language or symbolic machine code), often referred to simply as assembly and commonly abbreviated as ASM or asm, is any low-level programming language with a very strong correspondence bet ...
that contains commands closer to processor instructions. * In
formal methods In computer science, formal methods are mathematics, mathematically rigorous techniques for the formal specification, specification, development, Program analysis, analysis, and formal verification, verification of software and computer hardware, ...
, a high-level formal specification can be related to a low-level executable implementation (e.g., formally by mathematical proof using formal verification techniques). * In sociology and social anthropology, high-level descriptions would be terms like economy and politics, political structure, and low level descriptions would be individual peoples' motivations and work. * In neuroscience, low-level would relate to the functioning of a cell (or part of a cell, or molecule) and high level to the overall function or activity of a neural system. * In documentation, a high-level document contains the executive summary, the low-level documents the technical specifications. * In business, corporate strategy is a high-level description, a list of who does what jobs is a low-level description.


Examples

* ''Climate'' is a high-level description of the actions of the atmosphere and
ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...
s. Physics of water and gas molecules is a low-level description of the same system. * The instruction "write a creative poem on love" is a high-level instruction. The instruction "tighten the tendons in the Handedness, dominant wrist to grip the pen" is a low-level description of an activity within that. * ''"Wikipedia is an encyclopedia"'' is a high-level description compared to ''"Wikipedia is a collection of textual articles on many topics"''. The former reflects a higher level view of organization, purpose, concept and structure, but does not explain what Wikipedia physically ''is''. The latter is more detailed as to what exactly Wikipedia contains and how it's made up, but doesn't explain what its overall purpose and goals are. These are typical features of high-level and low-level descriptions, respectively. * As a more general matter, encyclopedias, such as Wikipedia, can be considered a more high-level source of information on a particular topic than one might find in, for example, a trade magazine or a scientific journal.


See also

* Granularity * Intentional stance, Dennett's three stances * Level of analysis * Meta-system * Systems theory


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:High And Low Level Systems theory Complex systems theory Formal methods Abstraction