EXPERT KNOWLEDGE AT A GLANCE

4 Index Data Structures a Data Engineer Must Know

In this article we will explain what index data structures are and introduce you to some popular structures.

In today’s world, ever-increasing amounts of data are being processed. The data can be used to derive business strategies in a commercial context, but also to gain valuable information about all scientific disciplines. The data obtained must be saved, ideally as raw data, and stored for future analysis.

At the time of creation, it is not yet possible to estimate what information might be valuable at some point. So any reduction in data ultimately represents a loss. Huge amounts of data accumulate every second, and managing them is an immense task for today’s hardware and software. Mathematical tricks have to be used to optimize search mechanisms and storage functions.

Index data structures allow you to access searched data in a large data collection immensely faster. Instead of executing a search query sequentially, a so-called index data structure is used to search for a specific data record in this data set based on a search criterion.

What are Index Data Structures in Databases?

You have probably heard about indexing in connection with databases. Here, too, an index structure is formed, independent of the data structure, which accelerates the search for certain fields. This structure consists of references, which define an order relation to the table columns. Based on these pointers, the database management system can then find the data using a search algorithm.

schematic representation of index data structures in databases
Index Data Structures in databases

However, indexing is a very complex scientific field. Queries are constantly being made more efficient and optimized. Thus, the approaches are diverse and very mathematical. This article will give you an overview of popular index data structures and help you to optimize your data pipelines.

Index data structure types

There are many different indexing methods. They are all based on different mathematical assumptions. You should understand these assumptions and choose a suitable system according to your data properties.
In the following scheme you can see some structure types you have to distinguish between, depending on the data you want to index.

index structures 1
index data structure types

The most important distinction, however, is whether you want to index one-dimensional or multidimensional data relationships. This means that you have to differentiate whether there is a common feature or several related but independent features.
In the following figure, we have classified the individual index structures according to their dimension coverage.

we have classified the individual index structures according to their dimension coverage.
individual index structures according to their dimension coverage

Which index structure you ultimately choose depends on many factors and should be weighed up well in advance, especially with large data sets.

Popular index data structures you should know

In the following, we will introduce you to some of the most popular indexing methods in detail. Because here, too, the key to success lies in understanding your tools and using them correctly at the right moment.

What is Hashing?

If you want to search for a value in an unsorted array, a linear search method is not optimal and too time consuming.
With the so called hashing method a hash value is used for unique object identification. This is calculated by a hash function from the key and determines the storage location in an array of indices, the so-called hash table. This means that you use this function to generate a unique storage location in the table using a key.
In the following figure the hash function flow is shown again.

schematic representation of the hash function sequence in detail
hash function sequence

Important basic assumptions are, however, that the function always returns a number for an object, two identical objects always have the same number and two unequal objects do not always have different numbers.

What is a Binary tree?

A so-called binary tree is a data structure in which each element, also called node, has a maximum of two successors. The addresses of the subordinate nodes are kept track of by pointers. It is often used when data is to be stored in RAM.

What is a B-tree?

The B-tree is often used in databases and file systems, i.e. for storage on the hard disk. The tree is sorted and completely balanced. The data is stored sorted by keys. The keys are stored in its internal nodes, but need not be stored in the records at the leaves. CRUD functions run in amortized logarithmic time.


The B-tree is classified into different types according to its properties.
In the B+ tree, only copies of the keys are stored in the internal nodes. The keys are stored with the data in the leaves. To speed up sequential access, these also contain pointers to the next leaf node and are thus concatenated.
In the following scheme you see a basic B+ tree structure.

Basic representation of a b+ tree and its components
Basic b+ tree structure

The B* tree is an index structure where non-root nodes must be at least 2/3 filled. This is achieved by a modified split strategy.
In addition to indexing, partitioning also offers you the possibility of strongly optimizing the data search within a database. In this article we introduce you to this technique.

What is a SkipList?

The SkipList resembles in its structure a linked list consisting of containers, which contain the data with a unique key and a pointer to the following container. In a SkipList, however, the containers have different heights and can contain pointers to containers that do not follow directly. The idea is to speed up the search by additional pointers.

schematic representation of an index structure of the SkipList
Schematic representation of a SkipList

Calculation of the container height

All nodes have pointers on different levels. Keys can be skipped with it. The height of the list elements is calculated either regularly, or unbalanced according to mathematical rules. The search is however dependent on the list emergence or evenly randomly over the list.

1 Comment

  1. Nyatuame seth

    Good

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.