The recipe database is made up of records. (Each recipe would be considered a record.) Each record (recipe) consists of headings or categories called fields, and each record in the database is formatted in the same way.

Let's look at the fields of the chicken recipe. Fields are often abbreviated, so the example demonstrates this:

Ti:   title of recipe field In:   ingredients Prep time in minutes:   preparation time field Cook time in minutes:   cooking time field Cal:   calorie field GmsFat:   grams of fat field Sodmg:   milligrams of sodium Ssd:   suggested side dishes field Ins:   cooking instructions field

You can search most of the above fields and use one of them as an access point or a way to get into the record.

Meals which take five minutes to prepare can be found by searching the preparation time fields of all the records in the database. The preparation time field is therefore your access point: it is the way you find the record, Chicken A L'Orange.

When you ask your program to find chicken recipes which have five or fewer grams of fat, can be prepared in five minutes or less and can be cooked in 30 minutes, the computer searches to come up with all the recipes in the database that match the parameters you have specified. The computer will not think or evaluate the recipes, but it will search for the exact requirements that you have requested.

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