Requirements for a rapid access data file

General-purpose business-dataprocessing machines now on the market are limited in their performance mostly by the electronic file systems associated with them. The only file medium that has proved itself acceptable from the standpoint of both cost and speed is magnetic tape. In the quest for better, i.e., faster, cheaper, etc., general-purpose machines, a "random access" file has been held out as perhaps the key to the next step of progress. "Random access," however, is a misleading term if it is used to describe what an ideal file should be, rather than adopted. The considerations which, taken together, point to the requirements for a rapid access data file in a general-purpose data processor will be presented here.