Imagine a database that stores strings using a common prefix method, one could make the same claim: this database does not store or retrieve strings. And yet it

Imagine a database that stores strings using a common prefix method, one could make the same claim: this database does not store or retrieve strings. And yet it does. The model of what something does is implemented by an underlying mechanism. But for many reasons the mechanism doesn't have to be, and often isn't, a naive translation of the model.