Basic data processing operations

Прочтите текст и скажите, как вы понимаете термины «обработка информации» и «иерархия запоминания ин­формации».

Text 1. 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 a series 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.

Five basic operations are characteristic of all data process­ing systems: inputting, storing, processing, outputting, and con­trolling. They are defined as follows.

Inputting is the process of entering data, which are collected facts, into a data processing system. Storing is saving data or information so that they are available for initial or for additional processing. Processing represents performing arithmetic or log­ical operations on data in order to convert them into useful in­formation. Outputting is the process of producing useful infor­mation, such as a printed report or visual display.

Английский язык. Основы компьютерной грамотности 46

Controlling is directing the manner and sequence in which all of the above operations are performed.

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