9 Feb
2015
9 Feb
'15
10:34 p.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Chuck
Guzis
Sent: 09 February 2015 19:42
To: General at classiccmp.org; Discussion at classiccmp.org:On-Topic and Off-
Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Magnetic tape filesystem
On 02/09/2015 11:00 AM, Peter Corlett wrote:
Performance? Where I worked our master file was small by modern standards, a
mere 4million record, but it took up 14 reels of tape. The update program
had many tricks to speed things up...
JOOI, why was there such a need to sort large
datasets back in the
mainframe era?
Knuth's book's title gives a hint. He called
it "Searching and Sorting".
The two
go hand in hand.
I think the simple answer is that it's easier to search sorted data,
particularly
when said data is offline--i.e. hanging in a slot in a
tape rack, or in a
drawer in
a card cabinet. Nowadays, when everything can be kept
online, it's
probably
less important than it used to be.
--Chuck