Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

I/O-model

1988; Aggarwal, Vitter

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Algorithms

  • 223 Accesses

Keywords and Synonyms

External-memory model ; Disk access model (DAM)

Definition

The Input/Output model (I/O-model) [1] views the computer as consisting of a processor, internal memory (RAM), and external memory (disk). See Fig. 1. The internal memory is of limited size, large enough to hold M data items. The external memory is of conceptually unlimited size and is divided into blocks of B consecutive data items. All computation has to happen on data in internal memory. Data is brought into internal memory and written back to external memory using I/O-operations (I/Os), which are performed explicitly by the algorithm. Each such operation reads or writes one block of data from or to external memory. The complexity of an algorithm in this model is the number of I/Os it performs.

Figure 1
figure 1

The I/O-model

Full size image

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 399.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Recommended Reading

  1. Aggarwal, A., Vitter, J.S.: The input/output complexity of sorting and related problems. Commun. ACM 31(9), 1116–1127 (1988)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Arge, L.: External memory data structures. In: Abello, J., Pardalos, P.M., Resende, M.G.C. (eds.) Handbook of Massive Data Sets, pp. 313–357. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Arge, L.: The buffer tree: A technique for designing batched external data structures. Algorithmica 37(1), 1–24 (2003)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Bayer, R., McCreight, E.: Organization of large ordered indexes. Acta Inform. 1, 173–189 (1972)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Nodine, M.H., Vitter, J.S.: Deterministic distribution sort in shared and distributed memory multiprocessors. In: Proceedings of the 5th Annual ACM Symposium on Parallel Algorithms and Architectures, pp. 120–129. Velen, June/July 1993

    Google Scholar 

  6. Nodine, M.H., Vitter, J.S.: Greed Sort: An optimal sorting algorithm for multiple disks. J. ACM 42(4), 919–933 (1995)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  7. STXXL: C++ Standard Library for Extra Large Data Sets. http://stxxl.sourceforge.net. Accessed: 15 March 2008

  8. TPIE − A Transparent Parallel I/O-Environment. http://www.cs.duke.edu/TPIE. Accessed: 15 March 2008

  9. Vitter, J.S.: External memory algorithms and data structures: Dealing with massive data. ACM Comput. Surv. 33(2), 209–271 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Vitter, J.S., Shriver, E.A.M.: Algorithms for parallel memory I: Two-level memories. Algorithmica 12(2–3), 110–147 (1994)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada

    Norbert Zeh

Authors
  1. Norbert Zeh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer ScienceMcCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Ming-Yang Kao Professor of Computer Science

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2008 Springer-Verlag

About this entry

Cite this entry

Zeh, N. (2008). I/O-model. In: Kao, MY. (eds) Encyclopedia of Algorithms. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30162-4_190

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation