CS113 – Ch07 Review – File Handling and Applications

Each file must contain the same record layout.

Each file used in the merge must be sorted in the same order based on the same field.

Describe what is required to merge more than two files.

Text File

Contains data that can be read in a text editor.

Binary File

Contains data that has not been encoded as text.

Tables

A database holds related file data in _____.

Ascending

When the records in a file are sorted in order from lowest to highest values, the records are in _____ order.

Performing the same tasks with many records, one after the other.

What does the term batch processing mean?

Sequential

To generate a control break report, your input records must be organized in _____ order based on the field that will cause the breaks.

Directory

_____ is the more general item for an entity that organizes files.

Real-time

_____ applications require that a record be accessed immediately while a client is waiting.

Transaction

A(n) _____ file holds more temporary data than a master file.

Read in records from a sorted sequential file so that all records that belong to a specific groups are stored together in sequence.

Process each record, checking to determine if it still belongs to the same group as the previous record.

Pause for special processing whenever a new group of records is encountered.

Why might programmers use a control break program?

Permanent

Files exist on _____ storage devices, such as hard disks, DVDs, USB drives, and reels of magnetic tape.

Nonvolatile Storage

Is not lost when a computer loses power.

Volatile Storage

Is lost when the program ends or the computer loses power.

Kilobytes

Thousands of bytes.

Megabytes

Millions of bytes.

Gigabytes

Billions of bytes.

Characters

Letters, numbers, and special symbols, such as "A", "7", and "$".

Fields

Single useful data items that are composed of one or more characters.

Files

Groups of related records.

Master File

Holds complete and relatively permanent data.

Random Access FIle

A file in which records can be located in any order.

Close

When you ____ a file, it is no longer available to your application.

Byte

A(n) ____ is a small unit of storage that, for example, holds only one character in a simple text file.

Folders

Directories and ____ are organization units on storage devices.

True

To write a program that produces a report of employees by department number, the records must be grouped by department number before you begin processing.

Parent

The saved version of a master file is the ____ file; the updated version is the child file.

Backup File

A ____ is a copy that is kept in case values need to be restored to their original state.

Each has a filename, a specific time associated with it, and occupies space on a section of a storage device.

List and describe three characteristics that all files have in common.

Temporary

When you write a program that stores a value in a variable, you are using ____ storage.

Direct Access

Because they enable you to locate a particular record directly (without reading all of the preceding records), random access files are also called ____ files.

False

You can easily merge files even if each file contains a different record layout.

Computer File

A ____ is a collection of data stored on a nonvolatile device in a computer system.

True

Images and music are contained in binary files.

Sequential File

When a program uses a ____, it reads all the records in the file from beginning to end, processing them one at a time.

Reading

When you copy data from a file on a storage device into RAM, you are ____ from the file.

Write

When you store data in a computer file on a persistent storage device, you ____________________ to the file.

Permanent

____ storage is not lost when a computer loses power.

Bits

Characters are made up of smaller elements called ____.

False

You can easily merge files even if each file contains a different record layout.

False

The keyboard and printer are the default input and output devices.

Hierarchy

When businesses store data items on computer systems, they are often stored in a framework called the data ____ that describes the relationships between data components.

Merging

____ files involves combining two or more files while maintaining the sequential order of the records.

Transaction

The ____ file holds temporary data that is used to update the master file.

False

Programmers usually use the word "write" to mean "produce hard copy output."

True

Files in which records must be accessed immediately are sometimes called instant access files.

Open The FIle

In most programming languages, before an application can use a data file, it must ____.

True

The terms "parent" and "child" can refer to file backup generations, but they are also used for a different purpose in object-oriented programming.

Single-Level Control

A ____ break is a break in the logic of the program that is based on the value of a single variable.

Batch Processing

____ is processing that involves performing the same tasks with many records, one after the other.

Path

The combination of the disk drive plus the complete hierarchy of directories in which a file resides is its ____.

Records

____ are groups of fields that go together for some logical reason.

True

You can merge more than two files.

Software that establishes and maintains relationships between fields in tables.

What is a database?