PTools-SDF version 0.01
=======================

PTools-SDF is a collection of 'Simple Data File' classes. 

These Perl5 modules are used to manipulate simple data files (SDF). In
addition to handling file I/O, these modules are also handy for creating
simple memory data structures that are familiar to most programmers.

PTools::SDF:: Provide simple methods for simple data files

There are four primary file formats ...

   CSV        'Comma separated' data files
   INI        MS-Windoze '.INI' format files
   SDF        Self Defining Files of columnar data
   TAG        Tagged data field files

... with some variations on these themes ...

   ARRAY      Load array of records  into PTools::SDF::SDF objects
   DIR        Load Unix directories  into PTools::SDF::SDF objects
   IDX        Provide user indexing  into PTools::SDF::SDF objects

Some lock modules are designed to work with any class that inherits
from 'PTools::SDF::File'. In addition, these classes will also work
successfully to lock any arbitrary file from any arbitrary script.

 PTools::SDF::Lock::  Variations of PTools::SDF::File->lock/unlock methods

   Advisory   Exclusive advisory lock/unlock       (via flock)
   Selective  Excl or Shared advisory lock/unlock  (via fcntl)


These sort modules are designed to only work with classes that
inherit from the 'PTools::SDF::SDF' module. The other basic 'SDF'
file types are not in a format that will benefit from sorting.

 PTools::SDF::Sort::  Variations of the PTools::SDF::SDF->sort method

   Random     The quickest, needs no args, for special cases
   Quick      2nd quickest, but only works with one sort key
   Shell      3rd quickest, but only works with one sort key
   Bubble     SLOW w/big files, but allows multiple sort keys

The sort modules all sort equally quickly up to about 100 records.
Above that, the difference in speed becomes more and more obvious.
Around 4,000 records, the Bubble sort becomes too slow for most use.
The Quick sort can easily sort 10,000 records and the Random sorter
can handle 100,000 records with little noticeable delay.

In addition, a couple of add-on packages contain more SDF tools.
Look for these on a CPAN near you.

   PTools-SDF-DB        'SDF DBMS' w/remote access to SDF data
   PTools-SDF-File-Cmd  OO wrappers for system files and commands


INSTALLATION

To install this module type the following:

   perl Makefile.PL
   make
   make test
   make install

DEPENDENCIES

This module requires these other modules and libraries:

   none

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

Copyright (C) 1997-2007 by Chris Cobb

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.8 or,
at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.


