The system of d
ATa objects which provide the
methods for
informATion storage and retrieval. Broadly, a d
ATa hierarchy may be considered to be either n
ATural, which arises from the alphabet or syntax of the language in which the inform
ATion is expressed, or machine, which reflects the facilities of the computer, both hardware and software. A n
ATural d
ATa hierarchy might consist of
bits,
characters, words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. One might use components bound to an applic
ATion, such as field, record, and file, and these would ordinarily be further specified by having
dATa descriptors such as name field, address field, etc. On the other hand, a machine or software system might use
bit,
byte,
word,
block,
partition,
channel, and
port. Programming languages often provide
types or
objects which can cre
ATe d
ATa hierarchies of arbitrary complexity, thus allowing software system designers to model language structures described by the linguist to gre
ATer or lesser degree. The distinction between the n
ATural form of d
ATa and the facilities provided by the machine may be obscure, because users force their needs into the molds provided, and programmers change machine designs. As an example, the n
ATural d
ATa type "character" and the machine type "byte" are often used interchangably, because the l
ATter has evolved to meet the need of representing the former. (1995-11-03)
In addition suitable contents:
[ = ] [ ad ] [ address ] [ ag ] [ al ] [ am ] [ an ] [ app ] [ applicATion ] [ ar ] [ arc ] [ archie ] [ as ] [ AT ] [ au ] [ av ] [ B ] [ b ] [ be ] [ bi ] [ bit ] [ bj ] [ block ] [ bo ] [ bot ] [ bs ] [ by ] [ byte ] [ ca ] [ cAT ] [ ch ] [ channel ] [ char ] [ character ] [ ci ] [ ck ] [ co ] [ com ] [ complexity ] [ component ] [ computer ] [ con ] [ cons ] [ cr ] [ cu ] [ dATa ] [ dATa type ] [ dd ] [ de ] [ degree ] [ descriptor ] [ design ] [ du ] [ ec ] [ ed ] [ ee ] [ eg ] [ er ] [ era ] [ es ] [ et ] [ fi ] [ field ] [ file ] [ fo ] [ for ] [ fr ] [ ga ] [ ge ] [ gh ] [ gn ] [ gr ] [ graph ] [ gu ] [ h ] [ hang ] [ hardware ] [ hierarchy ] [ hr ] [ hs ] [ ht ] [ hu ] [ id ] [ ie ] [ il ] [ in ] [ inc ] [ int ] [ io ] [ ir ] [ is ] [ it ] [ la ] [ language ] [ ld ] [ Lex ] [ li ] [ lv ] [ ly ] [ ma ] [ machine ] [ method ] [ mm ] [ mo ] [ mod ] [ mode ] [ model ] [ module ] [ mp ] [ na ] [ nc ] [ ne ] [ nf ] [ ng ] [ nn ] [ ns ] [ O ] [ object ] [ om ] [ pa ] [ partition ] [ pe ] [ ph ] [ pl ] [ port ] [ pr ] [ program ] [ programmer ] [ pt ] [ query ] [ rc ] [ re ] [ record ] [ ro ] [ ru ] [ sc ] [ script ] [ se ] [ sentence ] [ si ] [ sig ] [ so ] [ software ] [ spec ] [ st ] [ storage ] [ struct ] [ su ] [ sy ] [ syntax ] [ system ] [ T ] [ tc ] [ th ] [ to ] [ tr ] [ tt ] [ tw ] [ type ] [ ua ] [ us ] [ user ] [ va ] [ ve ] [ vi ] [ win ] [ word ] [ yt ]