<s>
INP	B-Application
(	O
pronounced	O
"	O
imp	O
"	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
database	B-Application
management	I-Application
system	I-Application
including	O
forms	O
processing	O
data	O
entry	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
developed	O
by	O
Bob	O
Tidd	O
at	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
California	O
,	O
Berkeley	O
in	O
1976	O
,	O
and	O
predated	O
many	O
of	O
the	O
commercial	O
and	O
opensource	O
databases	B-Application
in	O
use	O
today	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
INP	B-Application
database	O
may	O
contain	O
up	O
to	O
100K	O
records	O
of	O
up	O
to	O
1024	O
characters	O
(	O
expandable	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Up	O
to	O
ten	O
database	B-Data_Structure
indexes	I-Data_Structure
are	O
allowed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
are	O
btrees	B-Architecture
of	O
no	O
more	O
than	O
three	O
levels	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Databases	B-Application
must	O
contain	O
fixed	O
length	O
records	O
,	O
but	O
some	O
utilities	O
handle	O
variable	O
length	O
,	O
delimited	O
field	O
records	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
newline	O
(	O
RETURN	O
)	O
character	O
at	O
the	O
end	O
of	O
each	O
record	O
makes	O
INP	B-Application
databases	B-Application
accessible	O
to	O
the	O
entire	O
array	O
of	O
Unix	B-Application
utilities	O
,	O
including	O
editors	O
,	O
sort	O
,	O
grep	O
,	O
awk	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
INP	B-Application
validates	O
each	O
data	O
field	O
as	O
it	O
is	O
entered	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
a	O
field	O
is	O
incorrect	O
INP	B-Application
displays	O
the	O
validation	O
criteria	O
,	O
beeps	O
,	O
and	O
returns	O
you	O
to	O
the	O
start	O
of	O
the	O
offending	O
field	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
record	O
layout	O
and	O
validation	O
criteria	O
are	O
specified	O
in	O
one	O
schema	B-Application
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
INP	B-Application
is	O
implemented	O
on	O
the	O
DEC	B-Device
VAX	I-Device
and	O
PDP-11	B-Device
under	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
Unix	I-Operating_System
or	O
ULTRIX	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Versions	O
are	O
available	O
for	O
SunOS	B-Operating_System
and	O
Onyx	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Typists	O
and	O
others	O
with	O
little	O
data	O
processing	O
experience	O
find	O
INP	B-Application
easy	O
to	O
use	O
,	O
and	O
they	O
usually	O
become	O
comfortable	O
with	O
the	O
computer	O
related	O
processes	O
rapidly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Like	O
most	O
editors	O
,	O
INP	B-Application
has	O
many	O
command	O
options	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
basic	O
few	O
are	O
easily	O
learned	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
INP	B-Application
is	O
very	O
forgiving	O
,	O
helpful	O
and	O
bulletproof	O
about	O
data	O
entry	O
and	O
command	O
errors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
INP	B-Application
can	O
be	O
used	O
for	O
any	O
small	O
to	O
medium	O
database	O
or	O
data	O
entry	O
task	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Basic	O
applications	O
of	O
INP	B-Application
can	O
be	O
designed	O
and	O
implemented	O
by	O
persons	O
familiar	O
with	O
Unix	B-Application
and	O
the	O
text	O
editor	O
,	O
but	O
without	O
programming	O
experience	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
INP	B-Application
has	O
two	O
powerful	O
sets	O
of	O
options	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
elf	O
package	O
allows	O
user	O
supplied	O
coded	O
functions	O
(	O
in	O
the	O
C	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
)	O
for	O
special	O
validation	O
and	O
arbitrarily	O
complex	O
operations	O
including	O
forked	O
programs	O
to	O
occur	O
when	O
various	O
INP	B-Application
commands	O
are	O
requested	O
by	O
the	O
operator	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
opens	O
up	O
"	O
sky	O
's	O
the	O
limit	O
"	O
possibilities	O
for	O
projects	O
implemented	O
using	O
INP	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
INP	B-Application
comes	O
with	O
an	O
extensive	O
library	O
of	O
functions	O
,	O
including	O
the	O
keyed	O
database	O
access	O
package	O
,	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
incorporated	O
into	O
custom	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
