The system of data objects which provide the
methods for
information storage and retrieval. Broadly, a data hiera
rchy may be considered to be either natural, which arises from the alphabet or syntax of the language in which the information is expressed, or machine, which reflects the facilities of the computer, both hardware and software. A natural data hiera
rchy might consist of
bits,
characters, words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. One might use components bound to an application, 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 create data hiera
rchies of arbitrary complexity, thus allowing software system designers to model language structures described by the linguist to greater or lesser degree. The distinction between the natural form of data and the facilities provided by the machine may be obscure, because users fo
rce their needs into the molds provided, and programmers change machine designs. As an example, the natural data type "character" and the machine type "byte" are often used inte
rchangably, because the latter 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 ]