data set

In an IBM mainframe operating system , a data set is a named collection of data that contains individual data units organized (formatted) in a specific, IBM-prescribed way and accessed by a specific access method that is based on the data set organization. Types of data set organization include sequential, relative sequential, indexed sequential, and partitioned. Access methods include the Virtual Sequential Access Method ( VSAM ) and the Indexed Sequential Access Method ( ISAM ).

A data set corresponds to the concept of a file in other operating systems such as Linux and Windows 2000. Data set organization and file format are terms that have a close correspondence. A data set generally contains a collection of business data (names, salaries, sale figures, and so forth) whereas a file can contain many types of data (graphic images, audio data, video data, and so forth). For business data, the database is a newer alternative to the data set and the file.

A data set is also an older and now deprecated term for modem .

Last updated on: Sep 21, 2005

>  Enterprise Software related Research & News >  White Papers for the Retail Industry Are you a Know-IT-All? What technology is solid-state lighting based on? Answer  Sign up for the Word of the Day  Follow us on Twitter WORD OF THE DAY... above the fold LEARN MORE ABOUT... Mobile Web design and testing wear leveling write amplification write endurance decision management business process governance Profile-Driven Storage Resilient File System (ReFS) Security, Trust and Assurance Registry (STAR) Windows Server 8 community cloud managed storage facial recognition Shared serial-attached SCSI (SAS) open compute project BIOS password dynamic BPM (business process management) social BPM (business process management) in-circuit emulator (ICE) above the fold logic simulator photometric stereo dynamic case management (DCM) raw device mapping (RDM) WhatIs.com RSS Feeds