Skip trees, an alternative data structure to skip lists in a concurrent approach

Abstract

We present a new type of search trees, called Skip trees, which are a generalization of Skip lists. To be precise, there is a one-to-one mapping between the two data types which commutes with the sequential update algorithms. A Skip list is a data structure used to manage data bases which stores values in a sorted way and in which it is insured that the form of the Skip list is independent of the order of updates by using randomization techniques. Skip trees inherit all the proeprties of Skip lists, including the time bounds of sequential algorithms. The algorithmic improvement of the Skip tree type is that a concurrent algorithm on the fly approach can be designed. Among other advantages, this algorithm is more compressive than the one designed by Pugh for Skip lists and accepts a higher degree of concurrence because it is based an a set of local updates. From a practical point of view, although the Skip list should be in the main memory, Skip trees can be registered into a secondary or external storage. Therefore we analyse the ability, of Skip trees to manage data bases in comparison with B-trees.