B-Trees for BASIC

by Ray Robertson

The "heart and soul" of almost all relational database programs is the B-Tree algorithm. In fact may programmers describe a relational database as a B-Tree program with supporting code that simply delivers the query to the B-Tree or displays the results from the B-Tree. The beauty of this book is that it describes in great detail with lots of diagrams and charts exactly how a B-Tree works. It is one of the clearest explanations on the subject existing and is extremely useful for any person or classroom that is investigating databases. The number of illustrations in this book are too numerous to list. Diagrams are given showing every major step taken in writing a B-Tree. The diagrams also show exactly how searches are done. Flow charts are also presented showing how the B-Tree algorithm works. Tables are presented showing the performance of the B-Tree. Code is listed for an entire B-Tree program written in simple DOS based BASIC and it is inspected and laboriously explained line-by-line.

260 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 1992

About the author

Ray Robertson is the author of six novels including Moody Food and What Happened Later, a finalist for the Trillium Book Award. He has also published a collection of nonfiction, Mental Hygiene: Essays on Writers and Writing. He is a contributing book reviewer for The Globe and Mail.

Robertson lives in Toronto.