newbie question: data structure for book indexing

[Anton Vredegoor]

Peter Nelson <nelso513 at cts.umn.edu> wrote:

>What would be the best way to store and access this data? I'm thinking 
>that using a bsddb recno database might be simplest. But because the 
>index itself is ultimately a (very) sorted structure, would it make 
>sense to try storing the data in BTree format?
>
>Would it make sense to design a Python class IndexEntry to mimic the 
>functionality of index cards, then store this in a db via shelve?

I think it is not wise to decide on data formats and handling of data
without knowing the details. Post an index card here and describe the
kind of operations you want on the data. Alternatively, put an index
card under a photocopying machine and have some "balloons with arrows"
pointing to the different elements, describing what the data is about.
For example: is this number a date, an index, a string?

Make a scan of this annotated index card, transform this scan into a
jpg-image in order to make it easy to download, and put it on a
website. Post a link to this jpg-file here or in some other
newsgroups. A html-file documenting the card, with a card.jpg would be
even better.

This way people would be able to give more helpful advice. Also, some
other people from unexpected disciplines might gain just from knowing
about this request or they might give valuable info themselves.

Anton