1. You can access the i th block of a direct access fi le without accessing the blocks that precede it. In this sense direct access fi les resemble arrays. 2. Before you can process (for example,...

1. You can access the i th block of a direct access fi le without accessing the blocks that precede it. In this sense direct access fi les resemble arrays.

2. Before you can process (for example, inspect or update) a record, you must read it from an external fi le into internal memory. Once you modify a record, you must write it back to the fi le.