The many and powerful data structures for representing information physically (in contrast to a database management system that represents information with logical structures) are introduced by this book. Specialized data structures are covered, and there is an explanation of how to choose the appropriate algorithm or data structure for the job at hand. The four sections treat primary file organizations, bit level and related structures, tree structures, and file sorting. The opening chapters cover sequential file organization, direct file organization, indexed sequential file organization, bits of information, secondary key retrieval, and bits and hashing. The following chapters cover binary tree structures, B-trees and derivatives, hashing techniques for expandable files, other tree structures, more on secondary key retrieval, sorting, and applying file structures. The book contains pseudocode, or an outline in English, for most algorithms as well as end-of-section questions (some with answers) and many illustrations.