Re: Fractal tree indexing

Heikki Linnakangas <hlinnakangas@vmware.com> writes:
> The basic idea of a fractal tree index is to attach a buffer to every 
> non-leaf page. On insertion, instead of descending all the way down to 
> the correct leaf page, the new tuple is put on the buffer at the root 
> page. When that buffer fills up, all the tuples in the buffer are 
> cascaded down to the buffers on the next level pages. And recursively, 
> whenever a buffer fills up at any level, it's flushed to the next level. 

[ scratches head... ]  What's "fractal" about that?  Or is that just a
content-free marketing name for this technique?
        regards, tom lane