This research is concerned with some aspects of the retrieval of information from database systems by casual, naive computer users. A "casual user" is defined as an individual who only wishes to execute queries perhaps once or twice a month, and a "naive user" is someone who has little or no expertise in operating a computer and, more specifically for the purposes of this study, is not practiced at querying a database. The research initially focuses on a specific group of casual, naive users, namely a group of clinicians, and analyzes their characteristics as they pertain to the retrieval of information from a computer database. The characteristics thus elicited are then used to create the requirements for a database interface that would, potentially, be acceptable to this group. An interface having the desired requirements is then proposed. This interface consists, from a user's perspective, of three basic components. A graphical model gives a picture of the database structure. Windows give the ability to view different areas of the database, physically group together items that come under one logical heading and provide the user with immediate access to the data item names used by the system. Finally, a natural language query …

The main purpose of this project is to compare a new sorting method- Meansort with its preceding sorting method- Quicksort. Meansort uses the mean value for each key to determine the partition of the file, but Quicksort selects at random. Experiments proved that in some ways Meansort is superior to Quicksort but is still not perfect since it always needs a mean value for each key. This project implements these two methods and determines the situations under which each of these methods outperforms the other.