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Everything about Database index

Data structure for query optimization in databases

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 said 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. Wikipedia →

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

  1. Read the overview: Database indexA 5-minute orientation
  2. Skim a recent paper: Version 3 of the Global Aridity Index and Potential Evapotranspiration DatabaseInfluential work since 2022
  3. Pick up a classic book: Advances in Computers, Volume 49 (Advances in Computers)The most-reprinted book on the subject
  4. Read the landmark paper: Adapting a clinical comorbidity index for use with ICD-9-CM administrative databasesCited 8,806 times
  5. Go sideways: Relational databaseA closely related topic
  6. Go sideways: Surrogate keyA closely related topic

📖 Definitions

No dictionary entry for this exact phrase.

🗂️ The subject at a glance

  1. Usage
  2. Index architecture and indexing methods
  3. Column order
  4. Applications and limitations
  5. Types of indexes
  6. Index implementations
  7. Covering index
  8. Standardization

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

🆕 Influential since 2022

📚 Books worth reading

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

🔗 Related topics