Random Access
- When manipulating data with random access, we have to pay special attention to the formatting of the data.
- Example: Suppose we store the data as
text:
Then raise Harry's salary by 5.5 percent to $36,397.50.
The update overwrites some characters in the next field.
- In order to be able to update a file, we must give each filed a fixed size that is sufficiently large.
- As a result, every record in the file has the same size, making it easy to jump over records.
- Example: We will restructure our records above
to
Name: 30 characters
Salary: 10 characters