Compact Data Structures: A Practical Approach

Description

Compact data structures help represent data in reduced space while allowing it to be queried, navigated, and operated in compressed form. They are essential tools for efficiently handling massive amounts of data by exploiting the memory hierarchy. They also reduce the resources needed in distributed deployments and make better use of the limited memory in low-end devices. The field has developed rapidly, reaching a level of maturity that allows practitioners and researchers in application areas to benefit from the use of compact data structures. This first comprehensive book on the topic focuses on the structures that are most relevant for practical use. Readers will learn how the structures work, how to choose the right ones for their application scenario, and how to implement them. Researchers and students in the area will find in the book a definitive guide to the state of the art in compact data structures.

Gonzalo Navarro is Professor of Computer Science at the Universidad de Chile. He has directed or participated in numerous large projects on web research, information retrieval, compressed data structures, and bioinformatics. He is a member of the editorial board of the journals Information Retrieval, ACM Journal of Experimental Algorithmics, and Information Systems. His publications include the book Flexible Pattern Matching in Strings (with G. Raffinot, Cambridge, 2008), 20 book chapters, more than 100 journal papers, and almost 200 conference papers. He has also edited the proceedings of seven international conferences.

'This is a delightful book on data structures that are both time and space efficient. It will be a key reference and guiding light in the field for years to come.' J. Ian Munro, University of Waterloo, Ontario, from the Foreword 'The explanations are clear and accessible, the content substantial and the information level high, the illustrations appropriate and informative, and the subject matter timely and increasingly relevant. This text will provide a good foundation in theory and practical issues, and should be a useful introduction to the field for students, researchers, and developers desiring a solid foundational text.' R. M. Malyankar, Computing Reviews 'The book is a real gem! My excitement while reading it was similar to what I felt when learning to program as a child, browsing the bit-level details in a technical manual of an obscure computer architecture. Even though data structures are my main research interest, much of the material was new to me. There is a remarkable attention to detail, pseudocode in the book is written very carefully, with all details explicitly given ... In 540 pages, the book discusses a large number of data structuring questions, exploring various designs and tradeoffs, followed by relevant applications. The book is very well-organized, and its concept is compelling (once the reader gets the hang of it), the various results fit together and build upon each other. I imagine that seminars could easily be based on the book; it can also be useful for self-study and reference, even for practitioners.' Laszlo Kozma, SIGACT News