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Data
Words, Numbers, Symbols, Graphics,
Video, Sound.
Acronym: Da = WNS-GVS (pronounced WINZ-givz).
- Data is the raw material you feed into a computer.
- The computer processes (changes) data into a more useful form called information.
The first computers were designed to do math. Hence, data consisted primarily
of numbers. With the addition of words and punctuation symbols, text could be
processed as well. Finally, the addition of graphics (pictures), video (movies),
and sound (voice/music) gave rise to multimedia and its multiple
presentation methods.
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As pictured
below, imagine that Mr. Data
wins
the race and the judge gives
him a trophy.
From now on, whenever you hear the term data, think WNS-GVS. |
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You know that
off/on pulses, grouped into 8-bit bytes, send messages to the computer
screen. And you know that the message sent depends on the coding system in
use. Imagine a stream of 0s and 1s passing through various Code charts and
coming out as WNS-GVS data as shown below. |
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Data vs. Information
In English, we often interchange the words data and information.
But in Computerese, we must be more precise. We'll use the following guidelines:
- Data--raw words, numbers, symbols, graphics, video, sound.
- Information--data that has meaning to the observer.
Example: 100% written on a blank piece of paper has no special meaning to
you--it's raw data. However, 100% written at the top of your latest test does
mean something to you--it's information!
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