Another important aspect of TCP/IP internetworking is the creation of a standardized abstraction of the communication mechanisms provided by each type of network. Each physical network has its own technology-dependent communication interface, in the form of a programming interface that provides basic communication functions (primitives). TCP/IP provides communication services that run between the programming interface of a physical network and user applications. It enables a common interface for these applications, independent of the underlying physical network. The architecture of the physical network is therefore hidden from the user and from the developer of the application. The application need only code to the standardized communication abstraction to be able to function.
