| Noun | 1. | data processing - (computer science) a series of operations on data by a computer in order to retrieve or transform or classify information computer science, computing - the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures administrative data processing, business data processing - data processing in accounting or business management automatic data processing, ADP - data processing by a computer data mining - data processing using sophisticated data search capabilities and statistical algorithms to discover patterns and correlations in large preexisting databases; a way to discover new meaning in data distributed data processing, remote-access data processing, teleprocessing - data processing in which some of the functions are performed in different places and connected by transmission facilities instruction execution, execution - (computer science) the process of carrying out an instruction by a computer list processing - processing data that is given in the form of chained lists multiprocessing, parallel processing - simultaneous processing by two or more processing units operation - (computer science) data processing in which the result is completely specified by a rule (especially the processing that results from a single instruction); "it can perform millions of operations per second" priority processing - data processing in which the operations performed are determined by a system of priorities processing - preparing or putting through a prescribed procedure; "the processing of newly arrived immigrants"; "the processing of ore to obtain minerals" real-time operation, real-time processing - data processing fast enough to keep up with an outside process serial processing - sequential processing by two or more processing units word processing - rapid and efficient processing (storage and printing) of linguistic data for composition and editing |