Data is collection of row material which is collection of records and distinct pieces of information usually formatted in a special way. All software is divided into two general categories: data and programs. Programs are collections of instructions for manipulating Data. Data can exist in a variety of forms as numbers or text on pieces of paper, as bits and bytes stored in electronic memory, or as facts stored in a person's mind. Strictly speaking, data is the plural of datum, a single piece of information. In practice, however, people use data as both the singular and plural form of the word. The term Data is often used to distinguish binary machine-readable information from textual human-readable information. For example, some applications make a distinction between data files and text files. In database management systems, data files are the files that store the database information, whereas other files, such as index files and data dictionaries, store administrative information, known as metadata.