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"In traditional file processing, the structure of data files is embedded in the application programs, so any changes to the structure of a file may require changing all programs that access that file. By contrast, DBMS access programs do not require such changes in most cases. The structure of data files is stored in the DBMS catalog separately from the access programs. We call this property program-data independence."

The following text is taken from the book Fundamentals of the Database system. I didn't get the part about the traditional file processing can somebody please explain(an example would be appreciated)?

Ayush Kumar
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1 Answers1

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I'll give you a simple example.

Microsoft Excel used to save its files in a proprietary binary format. In practical terms, this meant that you could only work on those files using Excel.

But now, Excel supports an open document format in XML that is text-based, and allows other programs like the OpenOffice SDK to interact with them. So you no longer need to rely on Excel to work with open document format Excel files.

Robert Harvey
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  • I was thinking of an example something like an application program written in C++ may have header or class declarations and any changes in these header files wouldn't result in changing the program, since it would be accessing a particular database and all the changes in the database will be reflected in all the programs, And for traditional file processing if we create a shortcut for a file and delete the file we wouldn't be able to access it. Is this example correct?. – Ayush Kumar Nov 20 '20 at 05:45
  • I am finding it hard to understand the traditional file processing part? Can't really relate it to a database. – Ayush Kumar Nov 20 '20 at 05:47
  • In this context, anything that decouples the data from the software that uses it is considered "non-traditional." Databases do this (according to the book) because the metadata (the table design) is stored in the database, not the application. – Robert Harvey Nov 20 '20 at 15:40