Previously we have seen an implementation for a library catalog ( Mini IA Example – A library catalog). That implementation used binary files.
In this class video, we anticipate the scenario where will upgrade the library catalog to store information about people. We explore this implementation using plain text files. Plain text has the advantage that the datafile is easily viewable and editable.
Both examples use the strategy to load ALL DATA AT THE START of the program. Whenever any new data is added to the system, we save all data in structure arrays by calling our save() functionswhich OVERWRITE the older files.
In real world practice, overwriting files on every data addition would not be as efficient , however this strategy is the easiest to manage at our introductory level. Other strategies appends the data to the end of the file which involve testing for the end of file or managing sentinel file values.
In this excel tutorial, we explore how to change the formatting of values in cells, managing the appearance of our spreadsheet and perform sorting and sub sorting. We pick up from Reviewing Functions – Max,Min,Sum and Introducing average and follow along here: