Passive data structure: Difference between revisions

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In [[object-oriented programming]] and [[computer science]], a '''passive data structure''' ('''PDS'''), not to be confused with IBM [[Data set (IBM mainframe)#Partitioned datasets|partitioned datasets]], also denoted ''PDS''), is a term for a [[Record (computer science)|record]], to contrast with objects. That is, a PDS is a [[data structure]] that is represented only as passive collections of [[Field (computer science)|field]] values ([[instance variable]]s), without using [[object-oriented]] features.<ref name ="psd">{{cite journal|last=Black|first=Paul E.|author2=Vreda Pieterse |title=passive data structure|journal=Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures|year=2007|url=http://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/passiveDataStruc.html|accessdate=11 September 2014}}</ref> It is also known as a '''plain old data structure''', or '''plain old data'''.

Passive data structures are appropriate when there is a part of a system where it should be clearly indicated that the detailed logic for data manipulation and integrity are elsewhere. PDSs are often found at the boundaries of a system, where information is being moved to and from other systems or persistent storage and the problem ___domain logic that is found in other parts of the system is not relevant. For example, PDS would be convenient for representing the field values of objects that are being constructed from external data, in a part of the system where the semantic checks and interpretations needed for valid objects have not yet been applied.