Data and Information in Computer – Types of Data

Anything that is given to the computer as input is known as data. Anything a computer gives to us as output is known as information. Data and information in computer are the building blocks.

What is Data in the computer?

Data is the collection of raw facts and figures that is given to the computer as input. These inputs may be audio, video, images, texts, graphs, numbers, or maybe any alphabet. These inputs are given to the computer with the help of different devices that are known as “input devices”. e.g. Camera, touchpad, Mouse, keyboard, scanner, barcode reader, pointing devices, etc.

Data is also known as the unprocessed form that will be processed after being given to the computer.

Properties of Data

  The properties of the data are given below:

• Data is the input given to the computer.
• Data is the unprocessed form.
• Data is also meaningless.
• Data is unauthorized.
• Data is usually in bulk quantity.
• Data is not used in decision-making.
• Data is very difficult to regenerate.
• We cannot make decisions on the base of data.
• Data is anything we give to the computer.

Types of data

 The different types of data are given below:

Alphabetic data:

The alphabetic data may be any alphabet from A to Z that is given to a computer. E.g. name of the school.

 Numeric data:

Numeric data may be any number that is given as input. Numeric data contains 0 to 9 numbers which may either be positive or negative. There are different types of numeric data which are given as:

Integer data:

The data that has no decimal point is known as integer data. E.g. 67, -88.

Real data:

The data that have decimal points is known as real data. e.g.: -3.2, 2.5.

Alpha Numeric data:

It is the form of the data that contains alphabets (capital and small letters) as well as numbers (0 to 9) and also special numbers (@,#,%)

Audio data:

Audio data is the data that is given to the computer in the form of audio such as any speech.

Video data:

 Video data is given to the computer in the form of video which may be images that are animated or played video. E.g. Dramas or movies.

Image data:

 Image data may be given to the computer in the form of an image or any graph.

What is data processing?

When the data is received then the computer is ready to process this data and this is known as data processing. The computer is made only for calculations and processing. There are different types of data processing which are given as:

Arithmetic calculations:

In arithmetic calculations, the computer performs addition, subtraction, addition, and also multiplication.

Logical calculations:

These are the calculations in which two values are compared. The first value may be either smaller or greater than the other value or may be false or true.

What is Information in Computer?

The output given to us as the result of the processing of the input that is given to the computer is known as information. Therefore, information is processed form.

Information may also be of different types such as audio, video, documents, or any image. The information is given to us with the help of different devices that are known as output devices. E.g. Monitor, printer, etc.

Information is the processed form that is given to the user.

Properties of information in computer

• Information is the processed form of data.
• Information is meaningful for making the decision.
• Information is the output that a computer gives to us.
• Information is understandable.
• Information is easy to regenerate.

Examples of data and information

Example of data and information.

Data

 When we get admission to the university we provide our information to the university in the form of data which includes our name, father’s name, date of birth, and other information.

Then this data is provided to the computer.

Data processing

After the information is given to the university, the university applies different types of formulas to this data, and the processing of the data starts.

Information

After the processing of the data given by a student, the output/information is given to us in the form of our merit lists.

Difference between data and information:

Data	Information
Data is a collection of raw facts.	The processed form of data is information.
Data is meaningless.	Information is meaningful.
Data is independent.	Information depends on the data.
Data is input.	Information is an output.
Data is not used for decision-making.	Information is used for decision making