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Data vs Instruction - What's the difference?

data | instruction |

In computing terms the difference between data and instruction

is that data is a representation of facts or ideas in a formalized manner capable of being communicated or manipulated by some process while instruction is a single operation of a processor defined by an instruction set architecture.

As nouns the difference between data and instruction

is that data is plural of lang=enCategory:English plurals: Pieces of information while instruction is the act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with information or knowledge.

data

English

Alternative forms

* (electronics)

Noun

(wikipedia data) (-) or plural noun
  • English plurals: Pieces of information.
  • (uncountable, collectively) Information, especially in a scientific or computational context.
  • *
    • With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=76, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Snakes and ladders , passage=Risk is everywhere.
  • (computing) A representation of facts or ideas in a formalized manner capable of being communicated or manipulated by some process.

    • Usage notes

    * This word is more often used as an uncountable noun with a singular verb than as a plural noun with singular datum. * The definition of data'' in the computing context is from an international standard vocabulary] and is meant to distinguish ''data'' from ''information . However, this distinction is largely ignored by the computing profession.[http://eprints.utas.edu.au/1957/1/Cm1My.pdf

    Derived terms

    * big data * databank * database * datasheet * data acquisition * data analysis * data domain * data element * data entry * data farming * data hiding * data integrity * data maintenance * data management * data mining * data modeling * data path, datapath * data processing * data recovery * data set * data sink * data source * data warehouse * metadata * primary data * raw data

    References

    * (The American Heritage Dictionary's usage note on 'data') * Calpundit: YOU SAY DAY-TA, I SAY DAA-TA * John Quiggin: Data is not the plural of datum * johnaugust.com: ‘Data’ is singular

    Anagrams

    * English disputed terms English words affected by prescriptivism ----

    instruction

    English

    (wikipedia instruction) (Webster 1913)

    Noun

  • (lb) The act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with information or knowledge.
  • :
  • :
  • *{{quote-book, year=1927, author= F. E. Penny
    • , chapter=5, title= Pulling the Strings , passage=Anstruther laughed good-naturedly. “[…] I shall take out half a dozen intelligent maistries from our Press and get them to give our villagers instruction when they begin work and when they are in the fields.”}}
  • (lb) An instance of the information or knowledge so furnished.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:If my instructions may be your guide.
  • (lb) An order or command.
  • *
  • *:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
  • (lb) A single operation of a processor defined by an instruction set architecture.

    • Synonyms

    * See also