电脑的功用是将数据经过处理后变成信息。电脑使用指令来运行处理动作，所谓指令是告诉电脑如何运行特定工作的步骤。而将一组相关指令为共同目的而组织再一起的集合则称为软件。电脑通常保存数据、信息和指令，以供未来使用。有些人将输入、处理、输出和保存这一连串的动作，合称为信息处理周期。现在大部份电脑都可以和其他电脑沟通。因此，通信也已经成为数据处理周期中的要素。

Information processing is the change (processing) of information in any manner detectable by an observer. As such, it is a process that describes everything that happens (changes) in the universe, from the falling of a rock (a change in position) to the printing of a text file from a digital computer system. In the latter case, an information processor is changing the form of presentation of that text file. Information processing may more specifically be defined in terms used by Claude E. Shannon as the conversion of latent information into manifest information (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2011). Latent and manifest information is defined through the terms of equivocation (remaining uncertainty, what value the sender has actually chosen), dissipation (uncertainty of the sender what the receiver has actually received), and transformation (saved effort of questioning - equivocation minus dissipation) (Denning and Bell, 2012).