SPIRAL STORAGE: EFFICIENT DYNAMIC HASHING WITH CONSTANT PERFORMANCE.

Abstract

The author describes and analyzes a dynamic hashing method called 'Spiral Storage'. Dynamic hashing methods extend the power of conventional hashing methods by avoiding the need to have good initial estimates of the storage demand. The file storage space will grow or shrink with demand. 'Spiral storage' is the only known dynamic hashing method which provides constant average performance while the storage space changes in proportion to the storage demand. The performance of the method with link chained overflow is investigated. Results of analysis and of simulations confirm the utility of the method.