Program Transferability - Data Access Representation for Secondary Storage
Abstract
This report presents theoretical work which should lead fairly directly to analytical tools which can materially reduce the coat of transferring programs from one computer system to another. A unified, general description of data files and data access methods, called the data access representation, is developed which, it is asserted, is detailed enough to allow efficient use of complex I/O devices, yet simple enough to make possible the development of analytical tools to study and modify programs using the data access representation. As an example of such a tool, an algorithm is developed which will alter a program to compensate for any of a class of data file structure transformations similar to those required to transfer a data file from one I/O device to another. The data management routines of three important operating systems are then considered: IBM OS/360, CDC SCOPE, and HONEYWELL GECOS. Each is described in detail in terms of the data access representation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1972
- Accession Number
- AD0753400
Entities
People
- David B. Loveman
- Robert E. Millstein
- Stuart C. Schaffner