Table of Contents
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Section A:
General Introduction
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*
Inside the Computer
*
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A.4.3. The Field
This
term
relates more to application programs than
to
an
operating
system. We shall explain it here for completeness.
If
several characters belong together logically,
they
may
be given a name.
Let us assume you want to store
addresses. An address consists of the following data:
Name
Prename
Street
Location
form a set which
your
customers'
Here,
the field "name" may assume any contents.
Whether the name reads
Smith,
Walker,
or O'Brian,
this is determined by you when you type in
the names.
A.4.4. The Record
A record is a logically connected set of fields. To continue the example
above,
the fields name, prename, street, and location together form the
record "address".
Whenever your program stores such a record,
its con-
tents are determined by the sequence of fields it consists of.
Characters form fields, these form records, and the latter ones form
A.4.5. Files
Simple,
isn't it?
Formerly,
all addresses would have been written
on
car:ds and stored in a car:d-index box,
called "customer:s' index", Thanks
to
the
technical progr:ess,
we would nowadays speak of
a
"customers'
file".
Because we got on so quick, lets us have a small br:eak at this moment.
Programs operate on files.
They r:ead files,
write them, change, rename
and erase them. Ther:e are progr:ams which per:form all of these oper:ations
on several files at the same time. An bookkeeping system is cer:tainly an
example for this kind of pr:ogr:ams.
EOS User's manual
Daeumling & Zimmer:mann
Page 11
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