Data Base Retrieval System (DBRS) a personalized data base system for the APL user

Abstract

A Data Base Retrieval System (DBRS) provides facilities the opportunity to use terminals to maintain information in a data base and generate reports from it. It is composed of APL functions, but is designed to be used by people who have little or no knowledge of APL. The basic operations supported by DBRS include:• Describing the data format and defining the size and structure of the data base• Entering, listing and modifying data• Searching the data and selecting entries for reports• Generating formatted reports• Performing arithmetic operations on the data.The advantage of DBRS is its relatively straightforward, command-oriented interface as the user does not have to learn the complexities of a data base system in order to implement an application. Thus the user proceeds immediately from defining an application to obtaining useful results.