Design Strategies for File Systems

Abstract

The report describes a methodology for the analysis and synthesis of modern general purpose file systems. The two basic concepts developed are (1) establishment of a uniform representation of a file's structure in the form of virtual memory or segmentation and (2) determination of a hierarchy of logical transformations within a file system. These concepts are used together to form a strictly hierarchical organization (after Dijkstra) such that each transformation can be described as a function of its lower neighboring transformation. In a sense, the complex file system is built up by the composition of simple functional transformations. To illustrate the specifics of the design process, a file system is synthesized for an environment including a multi-computer network, structured file directories, and removable volumes.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1970
Accession Number
AD0714269

Entities

People

  • Stuart E. Madnick

Organizations

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Application Software
  • Computer Networks
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computer Science
  • Computers
  • Control Systems
  • Data Management
  • Data Transmission
  • Digital Information
  • Directories
  • Engineering
  • Environment
  • Hierarchies
  • Networks
  • Operating Systems
  • Programming Languages

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Parallel and Distributed Computing.