Christopher,
I'm sorry it's too late, but I haven't receive any messages from
postgres mailing lists for a month (don't know why). Just found your
message in archives.
GiST is a great thing, it's generalised search tree invented by
Hellerstein in 1995. It allows you to define custom data type,
index access to them and custom queries.
I have a little intro about GiST (not finished yest)
http://www.sai.msu.su/~megera/postgres/gist/doc/intro.html
Also, at the bottom of http://www.sai.msu.su/~megera/postgres/gist/
there are several seminal papers for reading.
Regards,
Oleg
On Thu, 14 Mar 2002, Christopher Kings-Lynne wrote:
> > > Oh yes, one last question, is the required method for adding index
> > > support via GiST? I ask because it seems to me that inserts could be
> > > exceptionally expensive, though as usual, I still have more to look at.
> >
> > I think we would recommend GIST because it is easier.
>
> Would someone be able to explain to me exactly what GIST is? I thought it
> was just a _type_ of index, but is it actually a generalised index-creating
> framework? Do other DMBSs use it? Is it a cool thing I could talk about
> when I give my talk at UWA tommorrow?
>
> Chris
>
>
