B-tree (redirected from Bayer tree)

B-tree

(Balanced-tree) A technique for organizing indexes. In order to keep access time to a minimum, it stores the data keys in a balanced hierarchy that continually realigns itself as items are inserted and deleted. Thus, all nodes always have a similar number of keys.

B+tree is a version of B-tree that maintains a hierarchy of indexes while also linking the data sequentially, providing fast direct access and fast sequential access. IBM's VSAM uses this.

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(algorithm)

B-tree - A multi-way balanced tree. The "B" in B-tree has never been officially defined. It could stand for "balanced" or "Bayer", after one of the original designers of the algorithms and structure. A B-tree is _not_ (necessarily?) a "binary tree". A B+-tree (as used by IBM's VSAM) is a B-tree where the leaves are also linked sequentially, thus allowing both fast random access and sequential access to data. [Knuth's Art of Computer Programming].