An introduction to database systems (The Systems programming series)
An introduction to database systems (The Systems programming series)
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One way to increase the amount of information that can be stored on data storage devices is to develop techniques for reducing redundancy in the data. The obvious first approach is the development of variable length records that repeat the fields for tables and array only as many times as required. This approach helps considerably, but the problem of redundancy in the fields that make up the record still remains. In most computer systems, the fields in a record are assumed to be fixed length, padded on the right with blanks if they are alphanumeric, and padded on the left with zeros if they are numeric. This approach can be wasteful of storage space since field lengths are usually set so they can accommodate even the longest of the data items that will be placed in the field. For fields holding data like an individual's last name, this usually means setting aside about 20 or 25 character positions even though most last names are considerably shorter.