We give a brief description of what we consider to be data parallel programming and processing, trying to pinpoint the typical problems and pitfalls that occur. We then proceed with a short annotated history of data parallel programming, and sketch a taxonomy in which data parallel languages can be classified. Finally we present our own model of data parallel programming, which is based on the view of parallel data collections as functions. We believe that this model has a number of distinct advantages, such as being abstract, independent of implicitly assumed machine models, and general.