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In article <92213.163449APPMS@CUNYVM.BITNET> APPMS@CUNYVM.BITNET (Alexandre Pechtchanski) writes:
>=========================================================================
>Hi, everybody:
>I've heard a statement that seems pretty doubtful to me:
>"... With .MDX files, all indexes are updated automatically, with
>only one DOS File Handle, instead of one DOS File Handle for each index.
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>This frees up RAM and ... to make program more efficient (read faster)."
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^                              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>I was always pretty sure that no matter what you do you have to allocate
>one DOS file handle (either explicitly or implicitly) for each file you
>access.  For dBase it spells one handle for each .DBF + one for each
>.NDX etc.  The only way (IMHO) to circumvent it is to use one handle
>for different files at different time, but it sure will lead to
>_in_efficiency of program!
>Can anybody confirm/disprove the above statement? (I mean the quoted
>one, also all are welcome to spill flames on me for my apparent
>stupidity ;-) )
>
>    Thanks in advance
>-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>Alex Pechtchanski, GCRC System Manager   voice: (212) 241-1804
>Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York  |-------------------------
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>BITNET:   APPMS@CUNYVM                |
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I don't have a dBASE IV reference manual near me, but I can presume :-)
I suppose a .MDX file contains _many_ indexes, then if the time
to get position XXX inside a file is shorter that time to open a file,
then it will be faster (and this is likely).  Moreover, having many index
in one file means one handle for many index instead of one for each! 
-- 
  \_\    Denis Beauregard  *  internet:beaurega@ireq.hydro.qc.ca
 /   \   Genealogiste officiel : Beauregard/Jarret/Jarest/Vincent
J   __>  Barthelemy Jarret (1471) -> Andre Jarret, sieur de Beauregard (1665)
\_.-===   -> Denis Beauregard (1992)                  Opinions ? Et pis non !