19 Files and Data Streams
“Quick-wittedness is any answer that is so clever that the listener wishes he had given it.”—Elbert Green Hubbard (1856–1915)
Computers are so useful to us because they process data. The processing cycle begins with the reading of the data, includes processing, and ends with the output of the data. This is called the IPO model (input-process-output) in data processing systems. In the early days of IPO, inputs consisted of punch cards entered by system operators. Fortunately, those days are over. Nowadays, we store our data in files [ 224 ] and databases. Note that a file is only interesting in its context; otherwise, it contains no information, and therefore, the view of a file is important. A program also consists ...
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