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HyperFile: A data and query model for documents

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Abstract

Non-quantitative information such as documents and pictures pose interesting new problems in the database world. Traditional data models and query languages do not provide appropriate support for this information. Such data are typically stored in file systems, which do not provide the security, integrity, or query features of database management systems. The hypertext model has emerged as a good interface to this information; however,finding information using hypertext browsing does not scale well. We developed a query interface that serves as an extension of the browsing model of hypertext systems. These queries minimize the repeated user interactions required to locate data in a standard hypertext system. HyperFile is a prototype data server interface. In this article, we describe HyperFile, including a number of issues such as query generation, query processing, and indexing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northwestern University, 60208-3118, Evanston, IL

    Chris Clifton Ph.D. (Assistant Professor)

  2. Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, 94305-2140, Stanford, CA

    Hector Garcia-Molina Ph.D. (Professor)

  3. Anderson Consulting, 1345 Avenue of the Americas, Room 928, 10105, New York, NY

    David Bloom B.S.

Authors
  1. Chris Clifton Ph.D.
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  2. Hector Garcia-Molina Ph.D.
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  3. David Bloom B.S.
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Clifton, C., Garcia-Molina, H. & Bloom, D. HyperFile: A data and query model for documents. VLDB Journal 4, 45–86 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01232472

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01232472

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