Hello Ann,

>>other DBMS vendors explicitly state that they are using e.g. a B-tree
>>like data structure for table storage. Is there a single term for
>>describing what data structure is used for storing a table in a Firebird
>>database?
>
>
> Not in the index? Firebird stores data and indexes on different pages
> types in the same file. Each data page contains data from only one
> table. Data is compressed before being stored. The lowest level index
> pages contain compressed keys and record pointers.
>
>
> The problems with storing data in an index are
>
> 1) Works only for one index. Access through secondary indexes is
> markedly slower
>
> 2) Broadens & thus deepens the index, reducing cache efficiency.
>
> 3) Storing a record often requires splitting and rebuilding a low level
> index page. Firebird records are stored wherever space is available
>
> 4) Complicates and probably eliminates the ability to compress back
> records if the key has changed.

Thanks.

> The advantage is that it sounds really clever to sophomore computer
> science students.

Well, I guess I can simply summarize my question with: "What a dumb
question" then. ;-))



Thanks,
Thomas