Re: Fractal tree indexing

Heikki Linnakangas <hlinnakangas(at)vmware(dot)com> writes:
> The basic idea of a fractal tree index is to attach a buffer to every
> non-leaf page. On insertion, instead of descending all the way down to
> the correct leaf page, the new tuple is put on the buffer at the root
> page. When that buffer fills up, all the tuples in the buffer are
> cascaded down to the buffers on the next level pages. And recursively,
> whenever a buffer fills up at any level, it's flushed to the next level.

[ scratches head... ] What's "fractal" about that? Or is that just a
content-free marketing name for this technique?

regards, tom lane