data hierarchy

The system of data objects which provide the methods forinformation storage and retrieval. Broadly, a datahierarchy may be considered to be either natural, which arisesfrom the alphabet or syntax of the language in which theinformation is expressed, or machine, which reflects thefacilities of the computer, both hardware and software.

A natural data hierarchy might consist of bits,characters, words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, andchapters. One might use components bound to an application,such as field, record, and file, and these would ordinarily befurther specified by having data descriptors such as namefield, address field, etc. On the other hand, a machine orsoftware system might use bit, byte, word, block,partition, channel, and port.

Programming languages often provide types or objects whichcan create data hierarchies of arbitrary complexity, thusallowing software system designers to model languagestructures described by the linguist to greater or lesserdegree.

The distinction between the natural form of data and thefacilities provided by the machine may be obscure, becauseusers force their needs into the molds provided, andprogrammers change machine designs. As an example, thenatural data type "character" and the machine type "byte" areoften used interchangably, because the latter has evolved tomeet the need of representing the former.

data hierarchy

data hierarchy

data hierarchy

data hierarchy

Words related to data hierarchy

noun an arrangement of data consisting of sets and subsets such that every subset of a set is of lower rank than the set

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