Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!iuvax!bsu-cs!dhesi
From: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Devices in general
Message-ID: <4972@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Date: 6 Dec 88 16:17:07 GMT
References: <5816@louie.udel.EDU> <3061@sugar.uu.net>
Reply-To: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi)
Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana
Lines: 11

In article <3061@sugar.uu.net> peter@sugar.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes:
[some name-calling because zoo won't write its archives to standard output]

The reason zoo archives aren't written to standard output is because
doing so requires sequential writes.  If they were, updating an
archive would require copying the entire archives.  This would mean
that you could not manipulate large archives in limited disk space.

Database handling programs in general don't write purely sequentially.
-- 
Rahul Dhesi         UUCP:  !{iuvax,pur-ee}!bsu-cs!dhesi