Data processing as a tool for generalizing communications systems

Automatic data processing is a tool for transforming, processing, and calculating information. If one accepts this fact, one should be prepared to describe the fundamental capabilities of automatic data processing. Since communications is itself a tool, it is instructive to attempt to describe its fundamental nature in a similar frame of reference and compare the two. The results of such a simple analysis lead to a viewpoint which has important implications on system and equipment design.