Abstraction is part of the way a computer thinks. It removes all the irrelevant content and focuses on the relevant content, this is most useful in working out a problem, remove the irrelevant content, focus on the relevant content. For example, a man named Fred wants to cross a 10 metre long river with a wolf, goat and some hay, but he can only take one at a time on his blue boat, and if he leaves the wolf and the goat alone, the wolf will eat the goat, and if he leaves the goat and the hay alone, the goat will eat the hay. How do we work this out? First, take away the irrelevant content, like the mans name, colour of the boat, size of the river and focus one the relevant factors, like who will eat who if left alone, he can only take one at a time etc. You should come to the answer, take the goat first, then the wolf and then the hay. This can be used in coding and can even be useful in life when solving problems.