DATA PROCESSING AND DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS

The necessary data are processed by a computer to become useful information. In fact this is the definition of data process­ing. Data are a collection of facts — unorganized but able to be-organized into useful information. Processing is aseries of ac­tions or operations that convert inputs into outputs. When we*¹ speak of data processing, the input is data, and the output is useful information. So, we can define data processing as a se­ries of actions or operations that converts data into useful in­formation.

We use the term data processing system to include the resourc­es that are used to accomplish the processing of data. There are four types of resources: people, materials, facilities, and equip­ment. People provide input to computers, operate them, and use their output. Materials, such as boxes of paper and printer rib­bons, are consumed in great quantity. Facilities are required to house the computer equipment, people and materials.

The need for converting facts into useful information is not a phenomenon of modern life. Throughout history, and even prehistory, people have found it necessary to sort data into forms that were easier to understand. For example, the ancient Egyp­tians recorded the ebb and flow of the Nile River and used this information to predict yearly crop yields.*Today computers con­vert data about land and water into recommendations to farm­ers on crop planting. Mechanical aids to computation were de­veloped and improved upon in Europe, Asia, and America throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centu­ries. Modern computers are marvels of an electronics technol­ogy that continues to produce smaller, cheaper, and more pow­erful components.