Describe and provide an example of the differences between real-time applications and interactive programs.

What will be an ideal response?

For many applications, sequential access is inefficient. These applications, known as real-time applications, require that a record be accessed immediately while a client is waiting. A program in which the user makes direct requests is an interactive program. For example, if a customer telephones a department store with a question about a monthly bill, the customer service representative does not want to access every customer account in sequence. Suppose that the store's database contains thousands of account records to read, and that the customer record in question is near the end of the list. It would take too long to access the customer's record if all the records had to be read sequentially. Instead, customer service representatives require random access files-files in which records can be retrieved directly in any order. Random files are also called direct access files or instant access files.