Page 79 - DCAP201_FUNDAMENTALS_OF_DATA_STRUCTURES

Fundamentals of Data Structures

Notes
Figure 5.6: Four parallel arrays, NAME, AGE, SEX and PHONE

Source: http://www.csbdu.in/econtent/DataStructures/Unit1-DS.pdf

Example:
Consider again the Newborn record in previous example of newborn. One can store a file of
such records in nine linear arrays, such as

NAME, SEX, MONTH, DAY, YEAR, FATHERNAME, FATHERAGE, MOTHERNAME,
MOTHERAGE
one array is for each elementary data item. Here we must use different variable names for the
name and age of the father and mother, which was not necessary in the previous example.
Again, we assume that the arrays are parallel, i.e. that for a fixed subscript K, the elements
NAME[K], SEX[K], MONTH[K],….., MOTHERAGE[K]

belong to the same record.

Records with Variable Lengths

Consider an elementary school keeps a record for each student which contains the following
data: Name, Telephone Number, Father, Mother, Siblings. Here Father, Mother, Siblings contain,
respectively, the names of the student’s father, mother, and brothers or sisters attending the
same school. Three such records may be as follows.

Adams, John; 345-6677; Richard; Mary; Jame,William,Donald
Bailey, Susan; 222-1234; XXXX; Sheela; XXXX
Sami, Mohammed; 567-3344; Abdul; Fathima; Aliya

Here, XXXX means that the parent has died or is not living with the student, or that the student
has no sibling at the school. From the above records, we could learn that they are in variable-
lengths, since the data element Siblings can contain zero or more names.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
11. A .................... is a collection of related data items, each of which is called a field or attribute.
12. The names given to the various data items are called ....................

13. The data items in a record are indexed by .................... names.

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