Multiple Generation Text Files using Overlapping Tree Structures

Abstract

When repeatedly editing a text file, one is often faced with a choice of keeping previous generations for backup or deleting previous generations to reduce storage requirements. Since one generation of a text file is often very similar to the previous generation, the above conflict can often be resolved by sharing much of the common information. We propose using a tree structure to represent a text file. Common subtrees can be shared. Results of an experiment with one file are reported.