processing pro‧ces‧sing [ˈprəʊsesɪŋ ǁ ˈprɑː-] noun [uncountable]
1. MANUFACTURING when a substance is changed as part of the manufacture of a product:
• Fire broke out at a food processing plant in Hamlet, N.C.
2. COMPUTING the use of information, figures etc to produce a particular result
ˌbatch ˈprocessing COMPUTING
when a computer system processes different Batches (= groups) of data (= information) or different jobs one after the other
the use of computers to store and organize data:
• computers designed for commercial and business data processing
• Invoicing is precisely the kind of function that can be taken over by electronic data processing.
disˌtributed ˈprocessing COMPUTING
when a computer system processes data (= information) at various places, instead of using one central computer
ˌparallel ˈprocessing COMPUTING
a system in some types of computer that can work on several problems, calculations etc at the same time, making it much faster:
• NCR systems range from notepad computers to systems with parallel processing.
• parallel-processing research and development projects
tranˈsaction ˌprocessing
COMPUTING when a computer system processes transaction S (= single actions that make a few related changes to the data in a database )
ˈword ˌprocessing abbreviation WP
COMPUTING when you write, store and process documents using a computer:
• software for word processing and database storage
* * *
processing UK US /ˈprəʊsesɪŋ/ US /ˈprɑːsesɪŋ/ noun [U]
► PRODUCTION the series of actions that are taken to change raw materials during the production of goods: the processing of sth »
Uruguay's manufacturing production and exports are largely based on the processing of natural resources.
processing equipment/facility/plant »The refinery is among the largest and most advanced crude oil processing plants in the world.
► IT the use of a computer to collect, store, organize, and use information
→ See also BATCH PROCESSING(Cf. ↑batch processing), CPU(Cf. ↑CPU), DATA PROCESSING(Cf. ↑data processing), DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING(Cf. ↑distributed processing), PARALLEL PROCESSING(Cf. ↑parallel processing), WORD PROCESSING(Cf. ↑word processing)
Financial and business terms. 2012.