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Post by bkthomas on Feb 4, 2008 21:31:13 GMT -5
Hello,
When I open a PAW file there is a progress bar which says "Sorting (#) 'names', then "Sorting (#) 'people". What is the difference between "names" and "people". There always seems to be more people than names.
Thanks,
Bob
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Post by Howard Metcalfe on Feb 6, 2008 11:22:36 GMT -5
Hello, When I open a PAW file there is a progress bar which says "Sorting (#) 'names', then "Sorting (#) 'people". What is the difference between "names" and "people". There always seems to be more people than names. Thanks, Bob Hi Bob, A person has a name that usually has various name "pieces." For example, Capt. John Smilth Jr. has four name pieces: the given name John, the surname Smith, the title Capt. and the suffix Jr. Each name piece is kept separately in PAWriter in a binary tree. When PAWriter loads the name pieces it recreates the binary tree from the name pieces in the file, sorting them into the tree. That's what the phrase "Sorring nnn names" means. So while there may be 1000 people, there may be 4000 name peices. But many of the names pieces are duplicated as in John Smith, Robert Smith and John Robert. So a name piece is stored just once in the binary tree and then referenced from the records of the people who have that name piece. Thus as the file grows, there tends to be many more people on file than there are name pieces in the binary tree. By the way, the same is true of place names. Detroit, Michigan has two name pieces, and they too are kept in the same binary tree. So Joe Detroit will share the same name piece, Detroit, in the binary tree as the place name Detroit. I just refer to name pieces (an awkward phrase) as names. This is the same technique that was used in Mac PAF. Also see the FAQ on "Case sensitivity in names." Best, Howard |
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