> Yes Unix has pipes And they only understand byte streams, which are the simplest possible abstraction. > Or like electrical devices, just channel the data b

> Yes Unix has pipes And they only understand byte streams, which are the simplest possible abstraction. > Or like electrical devices, just channel the data between them. If you get to that level of precision, there are visual tools for logical circuit design. But I don't think that's what the author had in mind.