Yes, removing duplication is closer to refactoring, not abstracting, although I don't think they are mutually exclusive. Abstracting is hiding everything BUT th

Yes, removing duplication is closer to refactoring, not abstracting, although I don't think they are mutually exclusive. Abstracting is hiding everything BUT the essential elements of something. Good abstraction only exposes what's necessary, and thus the epitome of abstraction are interfaces. Coding with good abstractions is about writing interfaces at every level, from the functions to the user. At the mathematical level, Category Theory is the math of abstraction and basically describes interfaces formally.