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In Computer Science , data is any information in a form suitable for use with a Computer 1. Data is often distinguished from Program s. A program is a set of Instructions that detail a task for the computer to perform. In this sense, data is thus everything that is not program Code 2. In an alternate usage, Binary File s (which are not human-readable) are sometimes called "data", as distinguished from human-readable " Text " 3. DATA VS PROGRAMS Fundamentally, computers follow the instructions they are given. A set of instructions to perform a given task (or tasks) is called a " Program ". In the nominal case, the program, as Executed by the computer, will consist of Binary Machine Code . The elements of Storage manipulated by the program, but not actually executed by the CPU , contain data. Typically, different File s are used to store programs vs data. Executable File s contain programs; all other files are Data File s. However, executable files may also contain data which is "built-in" to the program. In particular, some executable files have a Data Segment , which nominally contains constants and initial values (both data). For example: A User might first instruct the Operating System to load a Word Processor program from one file, and then edit a Document stored in another file. In this example, the document would be considered data. If the word processor also features a Spell Checker , then the dictionary (word list) for the spell checker would also be considered data. The Algorithm s used by the spell checker to suggest corrections would be considered Code . The line between program and data can become blurry. An Interpreter , for example, is a program. The Input data to an interpreter is itself a program -- just not one expressed in native Machine Language . In many cases, the interpreted program will be a human-readable Text File , which is manipulated with a Text Editor -- more normally associated with Plain Text data. A MORE FUNDAMENTAL VIEW More fundamentally in programming, data is any evolving state. Code is a particular, very structured kind of data, which constitutes a way to specify what is being programmed. Code is specific in that it has a particular structure, imposed by the designer of the system which executes it. Sometimes, this structure is the only way to specify the behavior of a program. The notion that code is also data is harnessed in the design of Functional Languages to establish so-called Expressive Power . REFERENCES SEE ALSO |
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