The Shiva Laser:

It works this way: the computer accurately scans the form of life (or the inorganic subject) and charts its atomic structure. It TRANSLATES what has scanned into a digital "MAP/MODEL" (= the digital counterpart who/which interacts with the TRON world - e.g. Digitized Flynn, Digitized Sam). Then, the real life subject is disassembled into a given load of "generic" carbon moleculas which are instantaniously sucked and stored into the laser tanks for future re-constitution/reintegration of the subject in the Real World.

The Digitized Flynn is Kevin Flynn and a copy of Kevin Flynn at the same time. The Digitized Flynn is the Program to reconstitute Kevin Flynn in the Real World, the "Program of himself".

The Programs in the Tron World are made of source code, but they are antropomorphized, they feature a human-like digital D.N.A, they mirror us. So they can work as "digital models" to get HUMAN COUNTERPARTS of themselves "built from scratch" at the other side, our Real World.
They just need previously-existing carbon moleculas stored in the laser tanks or free ATOMS to assemble into new carbon moleculas.

CLU has found a way to "format"/rearrange the reality surrounding the laser and use it to build NEW moleculas supporting the "generation" of Programs-made-into-humans and Vehicles-made-into-real-things.
Of course, as Flynn and Sam presented odds and strange capacities in the Tron World, so the Programs in the Real World would be different from us, we don't know how. Sure as hell the Vehicles would be energy-powered.