See all glossary termsIn computer programming, data is the fundamental building block of information that a computer uses to perform tasks. It is the raw material that is processed by the computer to produce meaningful results. Data can take many forms, such as numbers, text, booleans, objects, arrays, etc.
Data is manipulated by the computer through instructions (in most modern language, those are functions) to perform a task, which may involve changing the data itself. For instance, a video game might use data to store the name of a player, a character's health, or a list of special moves. When the player performs an action, the game updates the relevant data, such as reducing the character's health or changing the player's location.
Any meaningful program aims at transforming data. For example, a game will get the player's input, the state of the game, and the rules of the game, and will produce the next state of the game, which it will output as images and sounds.