I doubt anyone can top this:
"Data is the raw material on which a computer operates. When some appropriate structure has been applied to the data then it becomes information.
... *insert some silly example*
Structure has been applied and the data has become information, as shown in the following important relationship.
Information = Data + Structure
You should note that this is not a mathematical formula to be applied in the normal sense but simply a way of describing a fundamental concept in computer science"

This is pretty much directly quoted from "Understanding computer science for advanced level" by Ray Bradley. Fourth Edition. I have to read this shit.

Might sound silly but this is actually what is to be taught. This whole "information technology" concept is really stupid when explained in words with theories and relationships. I had to go through it, and it is in a way kind of like a philosphy class I had, where certain concepts are just really dumb sounding, but they still have a lot of meaning to it.

At first I thought this thread was about the bible (is given the name "worst textbook in history" by atheists, lol!)

Quote from axus :

I doubt anyone can top this:
"Data is the raw material on which a computer operates. When some appropriate structure has been applied to the data then it becomes information.
... *insert some silly example*
Structure has been applied and the data has become information, as shown in the following important relationship.
Information = Data + Structure
You should note that this is not a mathematical formula to be applied in the normal sense but simply a way of describing a fundamental concept in computer science"
E:
Why is it shit, its describing how instatutes teach, and what they teach, and how/why.
This is pretty much directly quoted from "Understanding computer science for advanced level" by Ray Bradley. Fourth Edition. I have to read this shit.

Data? ones and zeros, open and closed transistors working with one and other tomak 'results', its all down to what we are thought at the current level of technology we are at.
You read that shit and understand that evoulotion has to start somewhere be it biological evoultion ot tecnilogical evolution? is all the same, it take thousands of years. ITs down to the instatutions and pioneers to find better ways.

what incredible bull

unlike your textbook this bit about information is actually true:

Information
[...] Nothing else is like information. Information is very peculiar stuff. It can both be created and destroyed. You can steal it without removing it. You can often get some just by guessing. Yet it can have great value. It can be bought and sold.

One type of information is called Money.

There are people who refuse to concede that money can be created and destroyed. They spend their entire lives altering records and making adjustments to ensure that every time a bit of money leaves some place, an equal bit seems to appear somewhere else. These people are called accountants.

It's more of a rant about the dreadful, repetitive, patronising style of writing than anything else. I mean, that should be explained in two sentences, really.

Quote from axus :

It's more of a rant about the dreadful, repetitive, patronising style of writing than anything else. I mean, that should be explained in two sentences, really.

What do you mean style of writing? How would you have written what that explained? Or are you talking about poetry or something?

its still bs though from a information theoretical standpoint

Quote from Shotglass :

its still bs though from a information theoretical standpoint

I think he is just writing mad poems:cuckoo:, :cuckoo:

"Data is the raw material on which a computer operates. When some appropriate structure has been applied to the data then it becomes information.
... *insert some silly example*"
is more than sufficient.

Then further down, if your way of explaining is so shit that you have to explain your explanation, you really should be shot in the face.

" Information = Data + Structure
You should note that this is not a mathematical formula to be applied in the normal sense but simply a way of describing a fundamental concept in computer science"

It just says the same thing as the first paragraph. That makes the book painful to read because it's constantly making you read twice as much as you need to.

"Structure has been applied and the data has become information, as shown in the following important relationship" is also obvious because if an example is being given, it's bound to be based on what was just stated.

you know what the funny thing is ? by adding structure you reduce the amount of information shown to you

Quote from axus :

"Data is the raw material on which a computer operates. When some appropriate structure has been applied to the data then it becomes information.
... *insert some silly example*"
is more than sufficient.

Then further down, if your way of explaining is so shit that you have to explain your explanation, you really should be shot in the face.

I don't think it's an explanation of an explanation. I read it as an explanation of a definition. First they define the concepts of "data" and "information". You might think you already know what they mean, but the textbook gives then a new meaning. Then, they need to explain how these definitions differ from your common-sense understanding.

Nevertheless, the definition strikes me as silly. It would mean that the randomly scrambled memory bits that you get when you turn on the computer are "data". But a list of carefully calculated numbers on a sheet of paper is not "data" (because a computer can't operate on it), so it can't be "information" either.