Title
=====
Compressed Collection: 
A design pattern for representing data collections 
in a space-efficient manner

Authors' Names
==============
Henry Rabinowitz, Gary Sevitsky, John Martin

Contact
=======
Henry Rabinowitz
email=henryr@nynexst.com
phone=914-644-2855
FAX=914-644-2404
Network Planning & Engineering Systems Laboratory
NYNEX Science & Technology
500 Westchester Avenue, White Plains, NY 10604
USA

April 24, 1996

Abstract
========

A design pattern named Compressed Collection enables the space-efficient storage
of data that contain an ordered attribute. An extended example, derived from the
NYNEX Network Exploratorium project's data model, is demonstrated. The 
example uses collections of time-based data. The design pattern is of particular
usefulness for storing time series of objects in an object database. The pattern
is based on representing as an object a range of data rather than a single data 
point.  While this concept is simple to describe and use, its implementation is 
nontrivial.  Advantages and disadvantages of this pattern are discussed.

Keywords: design pattern, data compression, object oriented design, object 
database, time-varying data