Process Intensity Versus Data Intensity
Closely tied to the concept of interactivity is a concept that I describe with the phrase process intensity versus data intensity. Process intensity is the degree to which a program emphasizes processes instead of data. All programs use a mix of process and data. Process is reflected in algorithms, equations, and branches. Data is reflected in data tables, images, sounds, and text. A process-intensive program spends most of its time crunching numbers; a data-intensive program spends most of its time moving bytes around.
The difference between data and process constitutes a central construct around which the universe is built, and it shows up in every field of human intellectual inquiry. In language, it ...
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