For proper operations in random-access files, should records be of uniform length?

When dealing with random-access files, it is essential for records to be of uniform length. This is because random-access file systems rely on direct access to records, which means that the system needs to calculate the position of a specific record based on its size and position within the file. If all records are of the same length, the system can easily determine where each record begins and ends by using a consistent formula.

For example, if each record is 100 bytes long, the start of any record can be found by multiplying the record number by 100. This allows for efficient reading, writing, and manipulating of data without the need for additional overhead to determine record boundaries.

In contrast, variable-length records would complicate this process, requiring the system to keep track of the lengths of individual records, thereby increasing complexity and potentially reducing performance. Uniform record lengths thus streamline operations and facilitate quicker access to specific records in a random-access scenario.