Re: [Handle-info] Newbie Question - RFC 3651 <index>

[Konstantin Rekk <konstantin.rekk@gbv.de>]

On Sat, 2008-03-29 at 18:32 +0000, John Smith wrote:
> I am reading rfc 3651, I don't understand what the <index> field is
> exactly?

Hi John,

a handle consists of a set of handle values.
The index is indeed a kind of key for values (similiar to records)
within this set. If you need to access/retrieve a specific value from
the set, you have to provide the index for this value (actually the only
possible query parameter).

If you are approaching the handle system from a (distributed) relational
database view point, then the
pair (handle-pid, index) would be a  kind of primary key for the
(distributed) table of all handle values which exist within the system.

My 2 cents, please correct me if I am wrong.

Best! Konstantin 


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