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NSWInformation Processes and TechnologyQuick questions
Core: Information Systems and Databases
Quick questions on Data organisation and storage methods in HSC Information Processes and Technology
4short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What are flat file systems?Show answer
A flat file stores all data in a single table or file, with every record holding every field. A spreadsheet of customers and their orders is a flat file. It is simple to create and read, and fine for small, single-purpose data. Its weakness is redundancy: a customer who places ten orders has their name and address repeated ten times.
What is the database approach?Show answer
A database stores data in multiple linked tables, with each fact recorded once and connected to others through keys. This removes the redundancy of flat files, enforces consistency, and supports complex queries across related data. The cost is greater design effort and a database management system to maintain the structure. The database approach also separates the data from the programs that use it, so many applications can share one well-organised store.
What is hypermedia?Show answer
Hypermedia organises information as nodes of text, images, audio and video joined by navigable links. The World Wide Web is the largest example: pages connect to other pages through hyperlinks, and the user navigates rather than queries. Hypermedia suits browsing and exploration where the path through the information is not fixed in advance, but it is poor for the precise, structured retrieval a database gives.
What is free text retrieval?Show answer
Free text retrieval searches collections of unstructured documents, such as articles or emails, for records containing particular words or phrases. A search engine is the familiar example. The system builds an index of the words in every document so it can find matches quickly. Free text retrieval handles data that has no fixed fields, but it returns documents rather than precise data values, and can return irrelevant matches.
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