I've been hearing the term "flat-file" used a lot here, where I work,
and I think the term is being mis-used.
They way it's used here is to mean what I simply call a "text-file" --
just some ASCII output from a report, or even a dump of a table's
contents.
For example, folks here would say that this is a "flat-file":
-->
1101 "Adams, Allen" "123 Anystreet" "Ourtown" "AR"
2202 "Baker, Bill" "224 Park Ave" "Anycity" "CA"
<--
When, really (in my thinking), this is a text-file "dump" of the
Customer Table (Customer Number, Name, City, State).
I thought that a flat-file contained database structure info and may
certainly be a text-file, but not all text-files are flat-files.
I cannot find any good glossaries to straighten us (or probably "me")
out.
Anyone here care to offer a definition?
Thanks,
Lee
