摘要 |
The present invention relates to a method of storing elements in a database and of finding such stored elements. A reference to a storage space intended for the storage of a data element in the database is calculated by means of a mathematical function, wherein the function input data is an external key belonging to the element, and wherein the result obtained with the mathematical function points to an internal position of the element in the database. The result is divided into at least three parts (A, B, C). A first part (A) constitutes a reference to a fragment (A4) belonging to the database, a second part (B) constitutes a reference to a page (B4) within the fragment (A4), and a third part (C) constitutes a reference to a so-called bucket (C4) belonging to the page (B4). A bucket (C4) is comprised of at least one container in which the element can be stored, or is stored. The containers are given a size that corresponds to the size of a container header and the elements belonging to the container, said size varying with the amount of elements concerned. The size of a maximum container is limited so as to be at the most equal to the amount of data-information that can be read at one time into a cache memory belonging to a processor that operates within the database or that uses the database.
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