Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-xxrs7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T14:17:15.023Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Eliminating Amortization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2009

Chris Okasaki
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
Get access

Summary

Most of the time, we do not care whether a data structure has amortized bounds or worst-case bounds; our primary criteria for choosing one data structure over another are overall efficiency and simplicity of implementation (and perhaps availability of source code). However, in some application areas, it is important to bound the running times of individual operations, rather than sequences of operations. In these situations, a worst-case data structure will often be preferable to an amortized data structure, even if the amortized data structure is simpler and faster overall. Raman [Ram92] identifies several such application areas, including

  • Real-time systems: In real-time systems, predictability is more important than raw speed [Sta88]. If an expensive operation causes the system to miss a hard deadline, it does not matter how many cheap operations finished well ahead of schedule.

  • Parallel systems: If one processor in a synchronous system executes an expensive operation while the other processors execute cheap operations, then the other processors may sit idle until the slow processor finishes.

  • Interactive systems: Interactive systems are similar to real-time systems ― users often value consistency more than raw speed [But83]. For instance, users might prefer 100 1-second response times to 99 0.25-second response times and 1 25-second response time, even though the latter scenario is twice as fast.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Eliminating Amortization
  • Chris Okasaki, Columbia University, New York
  • Book: Purely Functional Data Structures
  • Online publication: 17 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511530104.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Eliminating Amortization
  • Chris Okasaki, Columbia University, New York
  • Book: Purely Functional Data Structures
  • Online publication: 17 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511530104.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Eliminating Amortization
  • Chris Okasaki, Columbia University, New York
  • Book: Purely Functional Data Structures
  • Online publication: 17 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511530104.008
Available formats
×