Busy. Please wait.
Log in with Clever
or

show password
Forgot Password?

Don't have an account?  Sign up 
Sign up using Clever
or

Username is available taken
show password


Make sure to remember your password. If you forget it there is no way for StudyStack to send you a reset link. You would need to create a new account.
Your email address is only used to allow you to reset your password. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.


Already a StudyStack user? Log In

Reset Password
Enter the associated with your account, and we'll email you a link to reset your password.

11 Files

Quiz yourself by thinking what should be in each of the black spaces below before clicking on it to display the answer.
        Help!  

Term
Definition
File   Organised collection of data / collection of records.  
🗑
Field   One item of data about an instance of an entity (person, object or event).  
🗑
Record   A number of data items, can be of different data types, grouped under a single identifier. Individual items called fields can be accessed using field names and dot notation e.g. Gymnast.Name  
🗑
Advantages of Records   Data referring to a single entity can be kept together. Makes it easier to manipulate (eg save, copy, search, sort) a whole record.  
🗑
Serial file   Records appear in the order in which they are received. New records are appended (to the end of the file). To access a record, you have to search through all preceding records.  
🗑
Serial access   Records are read from the first record in the file, in order, until the end of the file is reached.  
🗑
Deleting record from serial file   A new file is created. Records are copied from the old file to the new file except the record to be deleted. The new file is renamed as the old file.  
🗑
Sequential file   File in which the records are stored in order of key field.  
🗑
Advantages of Serial File   Simple and easier to implement. Adding new records is easy. Searching is easy but slow. Suited to a small number of records.  
🗑
Sequential access   Records are read in order of key field.  
🗑
Sizes of data types   String – 1 byte per character, Integer - 4 bytes, Real/Single – 4 bytes (Double – 8 bytes), Boolean – 1 byte, Date – 8 bytes  
🗑
Estimating file size   Decide how many bytes for each field, add up to find size of 1 record, * by number of records, + 10% ‘overheads’ (and / by 1024 for to convert from bytes to kB)  
🗑
The need to reset data in file   To initialise values otherwise existing contents of the file may be used and give unexpected results.  
🗑
Add record to sequential file   Open new file. Copy from old file to new file: all records before new record, new record, all remaining records from old file.  
🗑
Indexed sequential file   Records are sorted according to a primary key. A separate index is kept. Index allows groups of records to be accessed directly. New data needs to be inserted in correct position and index updated. Index must be in the same order as the records.  
🗑
Advantages of ISF   With a large number of records accessing a specific record is faster as you do not have to search sequentially from the beginning. Records can be accessed sequentially when all records need to be accessed – this is efficient access  
🗑
Disadvantage of ISF   More difficult to manage e.g. adding a new record requires inserting it in the correct position. The index has to be maintained and kept in sync with the data.  
🗑
Random file   The address of each record is calculated from the key using a hash algorithm. Records may not be contiguous.  
🗑


   

Review the information in the table. When you are ready to quiz yourself you can hide individual columns or the entire table. Then you can click on the empty cells to reveal the answer. Try to recall what will be displayed before clicking the empty cell.
 
To hide a column, click on the column name.
 
To hide the entire table, click on the "Hide All" button.
 
You may also shuffle the rows of the table by clicking on the "Shuffle" button.
 
Or sort by any of the columns using the down arrow next to any column heading.
If you know all the data on any row, you can temporarily remove it by tapping the trash can to the right of the row.

 
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.

  Normal Size     Small Size show me how
Created by: Chelsea2760
Popular Computers sets