Index Set Block Size
The physical size of a node for the index set is usually the same as the physical size of a block in the sequence set. We, then, speak of index set blocks, rather than nodes.
There are a number of reasons for using a common block size for the index and sequence sets:
- The block size for the sequence set is usually chosen because there is a good fit among this block size, the characteristics of the disk drive, and the amount of memory available.
- A common block size makes it easier to implement a buffering scheme to create a virtual simple prefix B+Tree
- The index set blocks and sequence set blocks are often mingled within the same file to avoid seeking between 2 separate files while accessing the simple prefix B+Tree.