How did John von Neumann’s stored-program design allow programs to be treated as data?

John von Neumann’s stored-program design revolutionized computing by proposing that instructions be encoded in the same electronic memory as data, rather than being determined by physical wiring or external media like punched tape.12

This design allowed programs to be treated as data because both instructions and data are stored as identical bit patterns—strings of 0s and 1s—within the computer's memory. By encoding instructions in this format, they become modifiable by other instructions, enabling the computer to change its own operations based on intermediate computational results.312

This architecture provided several critical advantages:
* Flexibility: It allowed for the development of high-level computer programming languages and sophisticated software.1
* Efficiency: Storing instructions in electronic memory allowed for rapid access, solving the speed limitations associated with mechanical input methods.1
* Interchangeability: Because the central processing unit fetches both data and instructions from the same memory, one program can effectively treat another program as data, a fundamental capability for modern computing.13