Index

An index is an indirect shortcut derived from and pointing into a greater volume of values, data, information or knowledge. Index may refer to:

Business

Publishing

MC2 France

MC2 France is a French software company that develops and publishes video games focusing on adventure games. It was formed in 2003 when Emmanuel Olivier merged Microïds and Wanadoo Edition. In late 2009 all of the licences associated with the company were purchased by Anuman Interactive, and currently the Microïds brand is used.

Brand history

Microïds

Microïds was founded in 1985 by Elliot Grassiano. For the first 10 years, Microïds was a development house, but in 1995 it expanded into publishing and distribution as well.

Microïds is well known for the development of the adventure games including Syberia, Syberia II, Post Mortem and its sequel Still Life. Other notable games that Microïds has produced include Far Gate and the Nicky Boum series of action games for the Commodore Amiga.

On 23 November 2009 Anuman Interactive announced that they were acquiring the mark of and all the associated licences of Microïds. The Microïds deal with MC2 was completed on 1 January 2010.

MC2 France

Database index

A database index is a data structure that improves the speed of data retrieval operations on a database table at the cost of additional writes and storage space to maintain the index data structure. Indexes are used to quickly locate data without having to search every row in a database table every time a database table is accessed. Indexes can be created using one or more columns of a database table, providing the basis for both rapid random lookups and efficient access of ordered records.

An index is a copy of select columns of data from a table that can be searched very efficiently that also includes a low-level disk block address or direct link to the complete row of data it was copied from. Some databases extend the power of indexing by letting developers create indices on functions or expressions. For example, an index could be created on upper(last_name), which would only store the upper case versions of the last_name field in the index. Another option sometimes supported is the use of partial indices, where index entries are created only for those records that satisfy some conditional expression. A further aspect of flexibility is to permit indexing on user-defined functions, as well as expressions formed from an assortment of built-in functions.

Economist

An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics.

The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are many sub-fields, ranging from the broad philosophical theories to the focused study of minutiae within specific markets, macroeconomic analysis, microeconomic analysis or financial statement analysis, involving analytical methods and tools such as econometrics, statistics, economics computational models, financial economics, mathematical finance and mathematical economics. A generally accepted interpretation in academia is that an economist is one who has attained a Ph.D. in economics, teaches economic science, and has published literature in a field of economics.

In academia

The professionalization of economics, reflected in academia, has been described as "the main change in economics since around 1900." Economists debate the path they believe their profession should take. It is, primarily, a debate between a scholastic orientation, focused on mathematical techniques, and a public discourse orientation, which is more focused on communicating to lay people pertinent economic principles as they relate to public policy. Surveys among economists indicate a preference for a shift toward the latter. However, these preferences expressed in private often differ with what is actually acted out in the public eye.

The Economist

The Economist is an English language weekly newspaper owned by the Economist Group and edited in offices based in London. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843. For historical reasons, The Economist refers to itself as a newspaper, but each print edition appears on small glossy paper like a news magazine. In 2006, its average weekly circulation was reported to be 1.5 million, about half of which were sold in the United States.

The publication belongs to The Economist Group. It is 50% owned by private investors and 50% by Exor, the Agnelli holding company, and the Rothschild banking family of England. Exor and the Rothschilds are represented on the Board of Directors. A board of trustees formally appoints the editor, who cannot be removed without its permission. Although The Economist has a global emphasis and scope, about two-thirds of the 75 staff journalists are based in the City of Westminster, London. As of March 2014, the Economist Group declared operating profit of £59m. Previous major shareholders include Pearson PLC.