Paul S. Fisher’s research while affiliated with Kansas State University and other places

As the computer industry begins to experience a transition from centralized processors to distributed environments of networked processors, a methodology for conversion must be considered. Various considerations are identified in this paper that affect the development of this new technology. The impact of data models for distributed databases is considered. The concept of a dictory, a dictionary/directory facility, is developed as the focal point for extension into the distributed environment.

Managers of programmers and designers are sometimes wont to adopt the new and shiny. This paper describes a situation in which managers at several levels grasped for the ‘new and shiny’ in the form of software engineering. This approach was not without its hidden dangers, especially when established guidelines were ignored or violated. The results of an experience with a large software project are reported. This project dealt with a sophisticated inventory control system. The effects on the project of ignorance and the violation of rules are described. Several measures of the final product are reported. Observations of the authors conclude the paper.

The process of creating an application data base is an activity which lends itself to implementation utilizing an unformated process. This process is described, involving utilization of a design data base system, and a set of attendant software facilities.

A software organization which provides for data definition and manipulation in a distributed data base system is presented by describing the functions and interrelations of the component processes; with its methodology for access, the physical location of the data is transparent to the user program. The concepts of distributed data bases are discussed and current research is summarized as a means of establishing a method for the data placement and location mechanism. Procedures for the movement of data in a distributed data base system are presented, along with the data manipulation procedures, in terms of their performance and integrity effects. Enhancements to the mechanisms are suggested.

The advent of distributed data base systems has introduced a bewildering assortment of terms, measurements, and descriptions for managers and users. The complexity which a distributed system introduces in hardware, software, and data allocation provides the major source of misunderstanding and confusion that is reflected in current jargon. This paper proposes a method of definition and measurement which alleviates the terminology and measurement problem. The methodology provides a standardized view of distributed systems and promotes an objective, quantified approach to the classification and selection of such a system.

Distributed data base management systems are discussed from a general viewpoint and in terms of their organizational characteristics. An operational prototype system is also examined. The backend data base management system is presented as the basic building block of distributed data base systems. The software structure and functional characteristics of a backend DBMS are examined, and the phases of expansion into multiple mechine configurations are outlined. The prototype distributed data base system uses the TOTAL data base package and exists on two Interdata machines plus an IBM 370/158. The structure of the prototype system is described and a discussion of the implementation methodology is provided. Finally, enhancements to the prototype system are discussed.

A survey of minicomputer data base management systems was conducted to determine the current state of the industry. The results of the survey are highlighted in this paper to provide a broad view of the features of commercially available mini-data base systems. Among the topics presented are hardware requirements, software implementation, data independence, binding, integrity, privacy controls, installation base, availability, and user considerations. In addition, the relationship between the growth of the minicomputer market and mini-DBMS market in the second half of the 70's is emphasized.

A survey of minicomputer data base management systems was conducted to determine the current state of the industry. The results of the survey are highlighted in this paper to provide a broad view of the features of commercially available mini-data base systems. Among the topics presented are hardware requirements, software implementation, data independence, binding, integrity, privacy controls, installation base, availability, and user considerations. In addition, the relationship between the growth of the minicomputer market and mini-DBMS market in the second half of the 70's is emphasized.

Mediator: An Integrated Approach to Information Retrieval The Mediator is a pseudo intelligent software controller which accomplishes two ends. First, it “mediates” between an Information Retrieval System and its end-user. On the assumption that the user of such a system will have at best a minimal knowledge of the operations of computers, it hides from him the internal complexities of the system, and presents to him a simplified “abstract” of the operations of the system. The Mediator allows the end-user to communicate with any application program in his own terms and to carry out operations of any degree of complexity which can be defined within those terms. Secondly, the controller enables a single system to extract unified information from data-banks of both data base management and textual environments. The Mediator is driven by a combination of hierarchically structured internal and external tables. The external tables contain a vocabulary selected by the user for his personal communication with the system; the internal tables contain directives which determine the appropriate path to be followed by the retrieval system in accomplishing the user's request.