Data processing

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Data processing ( DV ) refers to the organized handling of data volumes with the aim of gaining information about these data volumes or changing these data volumes.

Data is recorded in data sets , processed by humans or machines according to a specified procedure and output as a result . Systematic data processing is the basis for statistics , trade , technology , economy , science and administration .

Manual data processing

In ancient times , techniques were developed to efficiently cope with administrative tasks. Examples are the Kerbstock , cuneiform scripts and clay tablets , but also the knotted script Quipu in Central America. Further refinement led to documents (e.g. forms , questionnaires , delivery notes ) that were recorded, processed and stored in tabular form in filing boxes or accounts in a manner prescribed by law or work instructions .

Machine data processing

Herman Hollerith, “father of data processing, grandfather of IBM ”, is considered to be the pioneer of electromechanical data processing , who used punch cards to cope with the data volume of the 1890/1891 census in the USA . The tabulating machine developed for this purpose, as well as the punch card sorter and punch card punch , have been completed over the course of time by additional machines such as the punch card mixer and punch card punch , and the punch card technology has been further improved.

Basic operations of machine data processing

The basic operations of this technical level can be generalized for all forms of data processing. For example, forms were / are counted in the residents' registration office, sorted by name in alphabetical order, column values ​​in the form added, averages calculated and statistics are tabulated by comparing completed forms.

counting

Machine according to Herman Hollerith 1890. See on the table on the right a punch card reader coupled with vertically mounted round counters (the early tabulating machine) and sorting boxes connected to it next to the table on the right - the birth of the punch card sorter; on the left on the table the pantograph punch, a punch card punch

At first, Hollerith's machines were a statistical tool . In the census, they were able to record, sort and process far more features than a purely manual census made possible solely for reasons of time. For example, data by gender , race , religion and hair color could be efficiently recorded, linked and evaluated.

In addition to other censuses , the censuses of 1933 in Prussia and 1939 in Germany are documented under the direction of DEHOMAG .

Statistics weren't just for censuses. Insurance companies , banks , business and statistical government, federal and state authorities use these machines.

Addition, subtraction

Tabulation machine, see pegboard on the right, printer in the middle left, card feed and output on the left, control and processing unit in the middle on the right. In the background on the left a punch card sorter

With the tabulating machine, the machine park of the successor companies to Holleriths Tabulating Machine Company (1924 International Business Machines Corporation , IBM for short ) learned addition and subtraction in the 1920s. This opened up areas of activity such as accounting and materials management .

Multiplication, division

Multiplication and division have been documented since the mid-1930s, making it possible to automate accounting tasks such as billing , interest calculation and payroll accounting .

To press

In 1920 CTR introduced a "printing tabulator", a printing tabulator.

Storage of processing results

Results from the processing were also output on punch cards - in order to be used again as input for later processing dates. For this purpose, a punch card punch , a peripheral device of the computer system, was used, which was triggered by output commands from the processing program.

Mix / Compare

With the punch card mixer it was possible to mix or separate cards from different stacks of data in order to feed them for subsequent processing.

electronic data processing

Electron tube

In 1954 the IBM 604 punching machine with a tube calculator came onto the German market; a "sign of the approaching electronic age ". Only one year later, in 1955, the first “real” programmable computer with electron tubes, the IBM 650 magnetic drum computer, was presented. Until then, computers were used for mathematical and technical calculations.

transistor

According to IBM, the term medium data technology goes back to the introduction of the IBM 1401 satellite computer on October 5, 1959. This was built in transistor technology with core memory and used punch cards and optionally magnetic tapes as data medium . At the time, it was a comparatively compact system that also worked autonomously and thus enabled inexpensive entry into data processing.

RPG

At the same time, the RPG programming language was introduced in 1959. This helped to transfer the solutions worked out using tabulating machines or punch card mixers to the new technology.

“To support the large number of people switching from punch card machines to EDP systems, especially to the IBM 1400 series, IBM developed the Report Program Generator (RPG). This is a description language with which the list structure of tabulating machine applications could be described and a translation program that generated a 1401 program from the descried description forms. "

Electronic data processing using the IBM System / 360 at the VW plant in Wolfsburg (1973)

Dialog computer

Integrated circuits

With the advent of rotating data storage media, the magnetic drum was used more as a replacement for the main memory ; the magnetic disks - floppy disks, hard disks, hard disks, removable disks or simply removable disks - promoted the organization of data in files that were managed by the corresponding operating systems.

DOS - “Disk Operating System” - was originally a general term for software for mainframes and medium-sized computers in the late sixties.

Database

"The age of the database systems marked the beginning of the seventies with the system family IBM / 370".

  • Access to a data record was accelerated by clever storage, there was no longer a need for a stack of punched cards selectively etc. U. are sorted multiple times until subsets of the data stack down to the individual data record were the result.
  • Techniques such as indices accelerated the access to individual data records, database structures ensured the linking of different data sources (be it address data including customer number with sales data according to customer number).

The data of the punch card stacks were now saved in individual files or in tables in a file. Database structures were created, and this made it possible to output data links much faster, so to speak at the same time, on one or more terminals . This in real time

Information society

Every company processes data. The federal government, states, cities and municipalities only function on the basis of sophisticated data processing; there is also the federal statistical office , state offices for data processing and statistics. Laws (be it taxes, employment agency, etc.) are designed to be “data processing-compliant” at the latest when the implementing provisions (cast e.g. in the Federal Law Gazette ). The electronic tax return for companies is a must, every citizen receives a tax number . The mass media and their information systems provide citizens with an enormous amount of information from all over the world and in a very short time, and on the Internet the user can find thousands of potential hits in fractions of a second via search engines or can obtain and provide almost limitless information via wikis and blogs . All of these are examples of how data processing has been introduced and developed in broad layers and in all age groups of modern societies.

Data processing as a legal term

Data processing is a common legal term . There it is primarily used in the area of ​​data protection law.

Data processing as a legal term within the EU

The legal term "data processing" is a central component of EU data protection law. It is used in Directive 95/46 / EC (data protection directive) and there also under Article 2 lit. b legally defined. According to this, one understands by “any process carried out with or without the help of automated processes or any series of processes in connection with personal data such as the collection, storage, organization, storage, adaptation or modification, reading, querying, use, the Passing on by transmission, distribution or any other form of provision, the combination or the linking as well as the blocking, deletion or destruction ”. Even if Directive 95/46 / EC (Data Protection Directive) has been repealed by Regulation 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) , the legal term “data processing” has been largely adopted. The legal definition can be found in Article 4 No. 2 GDPR: "any process carried out with or without the help of automated processes or any such series of processes in connection with personal data such as the collection, recording, organization, ordering, storage, adaptation or Modification, reading, querying, use, disclosure by transmission, distribution or any other form of provision, comparison or linking, restriction, deletion or destruction ".

Data processing as a legal term in Germany

The legal term "data processing" is also used in the German legal area. It is mentioned in the Telemedia Act (e.g. § 13 TMG ). A legal definition is contained in Section 3 (4) BDSG . According to this, data processing is understood to mean “saving, changing, transmitting, blocking and deleting personal data”. The legal data processing term thus comprises five variants.

The Federal Data Protection Act provides the following definitions for the individual variants :

to save
is "the recording, recording or storage of personal data on a data carrier for the purpose of further processing or use" (Section 3 (4) sentence 2 no. 1 BDSG)
Change
of data is "the content reorganization of stored personal data" (§ 3 paragraph 4 sentence 2 No. 2 BDSG)
To transfer
of data is "the disclosure of stored personal data or personal data obtained through data processing to a third party in such a way that (a) the data is passed on to the third party or (b) the third party looks at or retrieves data made available for inspection or retrieval" ( Section 3 (4) sentence 2 no.3 BDSG)
Lock
of data is "the identification of stored personal data in order to limit their further processing or use" (§ 3 Paragraph 4 Sentence 2 No. 4 BDSG)
Clear
of data is "the obscuring of stored personal data" (§ 3 paragraph 4 sentence 2 no. 5 BDSG)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heise Online March 1st, 2010 Herman Hollerith: Father of data processing, grandfather of IBM. Retrieved January 6, 2013 .
  2. ↑ IBM Germany History of IBM in Germany. 1936. Retrieved January 6, 2013 .
  3. ↑ 1920. IBM Archives> Exhibits> History of IBM> 1920s. Retrieved January 6, 2013 (American English).
  4. ↑ a b History of IBM in Germany. 1950. Retrieved January 6, 2013 .
  5. ↑ Heise Online IBM celebrates 50 years of medium-sized data technology. October 6, 2009, accessed January 6, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Günther Sander, Hans Spengler: The development of data processing from Hollerith punch card machines to IBM enterprise servers. Self-published, Böblingen 2006, ISBN 3-00-019690-0 , p. 39.
  7. ↑ IBM: "History of IBM in Germany" ( Memento from June 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) "House for the history of IBM data processing"

Web links and sources