Organisation of Data: Files and Records

What Organisation of Data: Files and Records covers

Organisation of Data: Files and Records is examined in AS Unit 1, Fundamentals of Computer Science. It covers files, records and fields, fixed and variable length records, master and transaction files, file access and organisation methods, sequential file access and update algorithms, file security, backup and archiving and data validation and verification.

The 7 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Files, records and fieldsFile in data processing, record as the term is used of a file and structure of a file.Open →
• Fixed and variable length recordsFixed length record and variable length record.Open →
• Master and transaction filesMaster file, transaction file and standing data.Open →
• File access and organisation methodsSerial file organisation, sequential file organisation and direct file access.Open →
• Sequential file access and update algorithmsRecall questions on the open–read–process–close sequence, the end-of-file marker, pseudocode to read and to total a file, the master-and-transaction update algorithm case by case, why both files must be sorted, and why a longer record cannot be written back in place.Open →
• File security, backup and archivingFull backup, incremental backup and differential backup.Open →
• Data validation and verificationData validation, data verification and range check.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Organisation of Data: Files and Records further

The same content, four other ways.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is a file in data processing?

   Model answer

   A file is a named collection of related records held on backing store, which continues to exist after the program that created it has finished.

2. 2

   Why are files needed when a program already has variables and arrays?

   Model answer

   Main memory is volatile and is handed back when the program ends, so anything that must survive between runs, or be passed to another program, has to be written out to backing store.

3. 3

   Define a record as the term is used of a file.

   Model answer

   A record is all the data held about one entity, made up of a set of fields.

4. 4

   Define a field.

   Model answer

   A field is one item of data within a record, holding a single attribute of the entity the record describes.

5. 5

   What is meant by the structure of a file?

   Model answer

   The structure is the list of fields every record contains, together with the type and the length of each, applied identically to all the records in the file.

6. 6

   What is the key field of a file?

   Model answer

   It is the field whose value identifies one record uniquely, and it is the field used to find, amend or delete that record.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Organisation of Data: Files and Records revision questions

What does Organisation of Data: Files and Records cover in WJEC A-Level Computer Science?

7 subtopics: files, records and fields, fixed and variable length records, master and transaction files, file access and organisation methods, sequential file access and update algorithms, file security, backup and archiving and data validation and verification. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Organisation of Data: Files and Records organised?

By the WJEC 601-5345-3 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.