A File Structure for The Complaex, The
Changing and the Indeterminant.
T.H. Nelson
ACM 20th National Conference, 1965.
Presented by Paul Logasa Bogen II
The Problem
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Existing file systems had problems with:
 Idiosyncratic arrangements
 Total modifiablity
 Undecided alternative
 Internal documention
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And thus a problem for:
 Writers
 Scientists
 Everyone!
The Solution
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An Information Structure
 Zippered List
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A File Structure
 Evolutionary List File (ELF)
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A File Language
 PRIDE
Obstacles
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Cost
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Is Changing
Fashion / Need
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Will Change
Design
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Needs to be addressed
What we think it is to write
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Manuscripts
Hardwork
Structured
Features
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Unlimited number of categories
Dynamic Indexing / Outlining
Multiple versions
Simple
ELF and the Zippered List

Zippered Lists are:
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Lists with links between them.
ELF Consists of:

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entities
links
zippered lists
The Glorified Card File

ELF allows all of the operations you could do
with a card file
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References to other cards
Stacks of cards
Orderings of cards
But more is possible:
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self-documentation
complex linking
footnotes
alternate versions
PRIDE System
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Personalized Retrieval, Indexing, and
Documentation Evolutionary System
Sort of a ELF++

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Inverses of ELF functions
Text manipulation
One of many possible implementations of ELF
focused on documents
An ELF by any other name
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Hypertext Systems
Film systems
Audio systems
Video systems
Knowledge systems