The
sy
stem of data object
s which provide the
methods for
information storage and retrieval. Broadly, a data hierarchy may be con
sidered to be either natural, which ari
se
s from the alphabet or
syntax of the language in which the information i
s expre
ssed, or machine, which reflect
s the facilitie
s of the computer, both hardware and
software. A natural data hierarchy might con
si
st of
bits,
characters, word
s, phra
se
s,
sentence
s, paragraph
s, and chapter
s. One might u
se component
s bound to an application,
such a
s field, record, and file, and the
se would ordinarily be further
specified by having
data descriptors such a
s name field, addre
ss field, etc. On the other hand, a machine or
software
sy
stem might u
se
bit,
byte,
word,
block,
partition,
channel, and
port. Programming language
s often provide
types or
objects which can create data hierarchie
s of arbitrary complexity, thu
s allowing
software
sy
stem de
signer
s to model language
structure
s de
scribed by the lingui
st to greater or le
sser degree. The di
stinction between the natural form of data and the facilitie
s provided by the machine may be ob
scure, becau
se u
ser
s force their need
s into the mold
s provided, and programmer
s change machine de
sign
s. A
s an example, the natural data type "character" and the machine type "byte" are often u
sed interchangably, becau
se the latter ha
s evolved to meet the need of repre
senting the former. (1995-11-03)
style="border-width:thin; border-color:#333333; border-style:dashed; padding:5px;" align="left">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 ]