Everything else in the application is there to support the claims. The process of patent prosecution revolves almost exclusively around negotiating with patent examiners over the extent and reach of the patent claims. Looking at a patent abstract to determine whether a patent is infringed is therefore next to useless. That definition is much too limiting. These terms are much more broadly interpreted than indicated in the article.
Processes are methods of doing something, and translate very easily from software.
The typical machine claimed is a general-purpose computer executing the subject software algorithm. In addition, most of the problems that Nichols describes are speculative in nature and are not borne out by experience with software patents. But there is still a tendency to criticize software development because of its purported lack of reuse. The impression they leave is that there is little reuse compared to hardware technologies. I m not so sure.