What are the phases of information processing cycle? Explain briefly.

A task is assigned to computer in a set of step-by-step instructions, which is known as ‘ program’. These instructions tell the computer what to do with input in order to produce the required output. To complete any task, a computer performs three basic steps which are as follows.

Accepts input: Computer input is whatever is entered or fed into a computer system. Input can be supplied by the user (such as by using a keyboard) or by another computer or device (such as a diskette or CD-ROM). Some examples of input include the words and symbols in a document, numbers for a calculation and instructions for completing a process, and so on.

Processes the data: During this stage, the computer follows the instructions using the data that have been input. Examples of processing include calculations, sorting lists of words or numbers and modifying documents according to user instructions.

Produces output: Computer output is the information that has been produced by a computer. Some examples of computer output include reports, documents and graphs. Output can be in sev-eral different formats, such as printouts, or displayed on the screen.