What are B-trees and how do they improve performance?

What are B-trees and how do they improve performance?

B-trees are a type of self-balancing tree data structure that maintains sorted data and allows for efficient insertion, deletion, and search operations. They are particularly useful in databases and file systems.

Why are B-trees preferred over binary trees?

B-trees are preferred because they minimize disk I/O operations. They can have multiple children, which allows them to store more keys in a single node, reducing the height of the tree and thus the number of disk accesses required.

Can you explain how B-trees handle balancing?

B-trees maintain balance by splitting nodes when they exceed a certain number of keys and merging nodes when they fall below a minimum number. This ensures that all leaf nodes remain at the same depth.

What are the performance implications of using B-trees?

B-trees provide logarithmic time complexity for search, insert, and delete operations, making them highly efficient for large datasets, especially in systems where disk access speed is a bottleneck.

Are there any drawbacks to using B-trees?

Yes, while B-trees are efficient, they can require more memory due to their node structure and may have overhead during node splitting and merging.