Optimised Predecessor Data Structures for Internal Memory

We demonstrate the importance of reducing misses in the translation-lookaside bu er (TLB) for obtaining good performance on modern computer architectures. We focus on data structures for the dynamic predecessor problem: to maintain a set S of keys from a totally ordered universe under insertions, deletions and predecessor queries. We give two general techniques for simultaneously reducing cache and TLB misses: simulating 3-level hierarchical memory algorithms and cacheoblivious algorithms. We give preliminary experimental results which demonstrate that data structures based on these ideas outperform data structures which are based on minimising cache misses alone, namely