Can you explain what is meant by the concept of abstraction in programming?

Abstraction in programming is the process of highlighting the essential characteristics of an object or system and hiding implementation details that are not important for the current context. This allows working with objects at a higher level without delving into complex details.

In C#, abstraction is implemented through abstract classes and interfaces. For example, you can define an abstract class with methods without implementation, and concrete classes will implement these methods in their own way:

abstract class Animal
{
    public abstract void MakeSound();
}

class Dog : Animal
{
    public override void MakeSound()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Woof");
    }
}

class Cat : Animal
{
    public override void MakeSound()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Meow");
    }
}

Here, the user interacts with the abstract class Animal without worrying about the details of the sounds of specific animals.