 If we look at the foundations of information and computation there are two notions that are crucial: the concept of a data set and the concept of an algorithm. Once we accept these notions as fundamental the rest of the theory data and computation unfolds quite naturally. One can “plug in” one’s favorite epistemological or metaphysical stance here, but this does not really affect foundational issues in the philosophy of computation and information. One might sustain a Formalist, Platonic or intuitionistic view of the mathematical universe (see entry on  philosophy of mathematics)  and still agree on the basic notion of what effective computation is. The theory of computing, because of its finitistic and constructivist nature, seems to live more or less on the common ground in which these theories overlap. 