A FAST COMPACT REPRESENTATION  OF TREES USING HASH TABLES

Cleary, John G.; Darragh, John J.

A FAST COMPACT REPRESENTATION OF TREES USING HASH TABLES

Date

1984-09-01

Authors

Cleary, John G.

Darragh, John J.

Abstract

A new representation of trees using hash tables is described. Like the usual pointer representation leaves can be reached or inserted in a time proportional to the depth of the tree. Each node uses only the space for its data plus an overhead of $10 + l e f t c e i l i n g l o g s u b 2 n r i g h t c e i l i n g$ bits, where $n$ is the number of children allowed on each node. A parent node is accessible from its child, allowing an algorithm to be exhibited for traversing a tree using a small constant amount of storage and without modifying the tree itself. Expressions are given for the space and time required for traversal of trees, as well as, space and timing data from an actual implementation.