note on the Application o f Differential Files to Computer Aided Design M.P. Atkinson School of Computing Studies University of East Anglia Norwich NR4 7TJ Telephone Norwich (0603) 56161 Telegraphic Address UEANOR NORWICH Recently Severence and Lohman [i] have drawn attention to several attractive properties of differential files, which ene~01e economic preservation of data integrity and allow improved utilisation of different storage devices. They observed that use of Bloom filters would permit the composite file to perform very nearly as well for access requests as a simple file. Stocker [2] has shown that a differential file may be expected to have a better cumulative performance for updates Than a simple file. The property mentioned by Severence and Lohman as permitting simultaneous software development was immediately conspicuous as a usegul tool for implementing CAD systems. This paper explores That aspect.of these files. After establishing a vocabulary to describe the principle of a differential file, their value as a mechanism for providing The correct level of isolation and interaction for a team of designers workin& on a common project is presented. Praetical considerations include the problem of using such a technique with databases using the network model, and the use
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