A file structure designed to provide rapid, random access with minimum storage overhead is presented. Storage and retrieval are achieved by direct attribute combination-to-address transformation thereby negating the necessity for large file dictionaries or list-pointer structures. The attribute combination-to-address transformation is conceptually similar to key-to-address transformation techniques, but the transformation is not limited to operations on a single key but operates on the combination of several independent keys (or any subset of the combination) describing an item or request.A storage and retrieval system utilizing the combinatorial file structure is developed. Storage and retrieval results derived from a simulated document library of 4000 items are presented. The new file organization is shown to have marked value with respect to minimum storage overhead and high retrieval speed.
['Richard A. Gustafson']
Elements of the randomized combinatorial file structure