The advantages of word processing programs can best be illustrated by thinking of some of the disadvantages of typewriters. When we use a typewriter to create a document, there is a direct connection between the keys and the paper. As soon as you press a key on the keyboard, there is an impact on the paper, and the document has been modified. If you catch a mistake quickly, you can fix it with correction tape or white-out. If your mistake is more than one character long, it is much harder to fix. If you want to add a word, move a paragraph, or change the margins, you have to completely retype the page. Sometimes this necessitates changes on other pages as well. A one word change could lead to retyping an entire document.
Word processing is a type of software that focuses on the ability to handle text. The computer does this by assigning each letter of the alphabet and each other character on the keyboard a specific numeric code. These numeric codes are translated into computer machine language, and stored in the computer's memory. Because the information is in memory, it is very easy to change and manipulate. This is the key to the success of word processing.