Abstractions pretty much exist and in assembler they matter even more because the code is so terse.
Now, there are abstractions (which exist in your brain, whatever the language) and tools to represent abstractions (in ASM you've got macros and JSR/RET; both pretty leaky).
That wasn’t my point. You almost got there when you wrote “there are abstractions (which exist in you brain, whatever the language)”. And your point on leaky abstractions is exactly the indication that they exist in your mind, not out there.
My point is that we settle with what we see for convenience/utility and base our models on that. We build real things on top of these models. Then the result meets reality. If only that transition were so simple.
When an effect jumps unexpectedly between layers of abstraction we call it an abstraction leak. As you mentioned. The correct response is to re-examine these leaks and make other frameworks to cover the edge cases, not to blame the world.
Hackers actively seek these “leaks” by suspending assumptions that arise out of the abstractions that humans tend to rely on.
I’m not surprised that my OP got downvoted. It can be very upsetting when one’s conceptual frameworks are challenged without prescription. No one even mentioned the specific example that I referenced. Well, if they can’t parse it, they don’t deserve it. Keeps me in the market.
> My point is that we settle with what we see for convenience/utility and base our models on that.
I disagree with that. My abstractions are pure in my mind (well, I hope even if it sounds a bit pretentious). I try to get the best out of the tools I have at hand to represent them. I'm perfectly fine with leaky abstractions, mismatches, inconvenent languages, etc. I live with that. But I certainly don't actively seek these leaks. Quite the opposite :-) (well instead I'm pursuing another goal like performance, in which case, I blow abstractions away). Oh, and in case you wonder, I did write tons of assembly on 8086/80386 and 6502 and now I'm full on on rust, julia and python. I know what an abstraction is :-)
But I thnk we globally agree nonetheless