Writing a sqlite clone from scratch in C
Part 7 - Introduction to the B-Tree
This should be a shorter part than the last one. We’re just going to refactor a bit to make it easier to start the B-Tree implementation.
We’re going to add a Cursor object which represents a location in the table. Things you might want to do with cursors:
Those are the behaviors we’re going to implement now. Later, we will also want to:
Without further ado, here’s the Cursor type:
+typedef struct {
+ Table* table;
+ uint32_t row_num;
+ bool end_of_table; // Indicates a position one past the last element
+} Cursor;
Given our current table data structure, all you need to identify a location in a table is the row number.
A cursor also has a reference to the table it’s part of (so our cursor functions can take just the cursor as a parameter).
Finally, it has a boolean called end_of_table. This is so we can represent a position past the end of the table (which is somewhere we may want to insert a row).
table_start() and table_end() create new cursors:
+Cursor* table_start(Table* table) {
+ Cursor* cursor = malloc(sizeof(Cursor));
+ cursor->table = table;
+ cursor->row_num = 0;
+ cursor->end_of_table = (table->num_rows == 0);
+
+ return cursor;
+}
+
+Cursor* table_end(Table* table) {
+ Cursor* cursor = malloc(sizeof(Cursor));
+ cursor->table = table;
+ cursor->row_num = table->num_rows;
+ cursor->end_of_table = true;
+
+ return cursor;
+}
Our row_slot() function will become cursor_value(), which returns a pointer to the position described by the cursor:
-void* row_slot(Table* table, uint32_t row_num) {
+void* cursor_value(Cursor* cursor) {
+ uint32_t row_num = cursor->row_num;
uint32_t page_num = row_num / ROWS_PER_PAGE;
- void* page = get_page(table->pager, page_num);
+ void* page = get_page(cursor->table->pager, page_num);
uint32_t row_offset = row_num % ROWS_PER_PAGE;
uint32_t byte_offset = row_offset * ROW_SIZE;
return page + byte_offset;
}
Advancing the cursor in our current table structure is as simple as incrementing the row number. This will be a bit more complicated in a B-tree.
+void cursor_advance(Cursor* cursor) {
+ cursor->row_num += 1;
+ if (cursor->row_num >= cursor->table->num_rows) {
+ cursor->end_of_table = true;
+ }
+}
Finally we can change our “virtual machine” methods to use the cursor abstraction. When inserting a row, we open a cursor at the end of table, write to that cursor location, then close the cursor.
Row* row_to_insert = &(statement->row_to_insert);
+ Cursor* cursor = table_end(table);
- serialize_row(row_to_insert, row_slot(table, table->num_rows));
+ serialize_row(row_to_insert, cursor_value(cursor));
table->num_rows += 1;
+ free(cursor);
+
return EXECUTE_SUCCESS;
}
When selecting all rows in the table, we open a cursor at the start of the table, print the row, then advance the cursor to the next row. Repeat until we’ve reached the end of the table.
ExecuteResult execute_select(Statement* statement, Table* table) {
+ Cursor* cursor = table_start(table);
+
Row row;
- for (uint32_t i = 0; i < table->num_rows; i++) {
- deserialize_row(row_slot(table, i), &row);
+ while (!(cursor->end_of_table)) {
+ deserialize_row(cursor_value(cursor), &row);
print_row(&row);
+ cursor_advance(cursor);
}
+
+ free(cursor);
+
return EXECUTE_SUCCESS;
}
Alright, that’s it! Like I said, this was a shorter refactor that should help us as we rewrite our table data structure into a B-Tree. execute_select() and execute_insert() can interact with the table entirely through the cursor without assuming anything about how the table is stored.
Here’s the complete diff to this part:
@@ -78,6 +78,13 @@ struct {
} Table;
+typedef struct {
+ Table* table;
+ uint32_t row_num;
+ bool end_of_table; // Indicates a position one past the last element
+} Cursor;
+
void print_row(Row* row) {
printf("(%d, %s, %s)\n", row->id, row->username, row->email);
}
@@ -126,12 +133,38 @@ void* get_page(Pager* pager, uint32_t page_num) {
return pager->pages[page_num];
}
-void* row_slot(Table* table, uint32_t row_num) {
- uint32_t page_num = row_num / ROWS_PER_PAGE;
- void *page = get_page(table->pager, page_num);
- uint32_t row_offset = row_num % ROWS_PER_PAGE;
- uint32_t byte_offset = row_offset * ROW_SIZE;
- return page + byte_offset;
+Cursor* table_start(Table* table) {
+ Cursor* cursor = malloc(sizeof(Cursor));
+ cursor->table = table;
+ cursor->row_num = 0;
+ cursor->end_of_table = (table->num_rows == 0);
+
+ return cursor;
+}
+
+Cursor* table_end(Table* table) {
+ Cursor* cursor = malloc(sizeof(Cursor));
+ cursor->table = table;
+ cursor->row_num = table->num_rows;
+ cursor->end_of_table = true;
+
+ return cursor;
+}
+
+void* cursor_value(Cursor* cursor) {
+ uint32_t row_num = cursor->row_num;
+ uint32_t page_num = row_num / ROWS_PER_PAGE;
+ void *page = get_page(cursor->table->pager, page_num);
+ uint32_t row_offset = row_num % ROWS_PER_PAGE;
+ uint32_t byte_offset = row_offset * ROW_SIZE;
+ return page + byte_offset;
+}
+
+void cursor_advance(Cursor* cursor) {
+ cursor->row_num += 1;
+ if (cursor->row_num >= cursor->table->num_rows) {
+ cursor->end_of_table = true;
+ }
}
Pager* pager_open(const char* filename) {
@@ -327,19 +360,28 @@ ExecuteResult execute_insert(Statement* statement, Table* table) {
}
Row* row_to_insert = &(statement->row_to_insert);
+ Cursor* cursor = table_end(table);
- serialize_row(row_to_insert, row_slot(table, table->num_rows));
+ serialize_row(row_to_insert, cursor_value(cursor));
table->num_rows += 1;
+ free(cursor);
+
return EXECUTE_SUCCESS;
}
ExecuteResult execute_select(Statement* statement, Table* table) {
+ Cursor* cursor = table_start(table);
+
Row row;
- for (uint32_t i = 0; i < table->num_rows; i++) {
- deserialize_row(row_slot(table, i), &row);
+ while (!(cursor->end_of_table)) {
+ deserialize_row(cursor_value(cursor), &row);
print_row(&row);
+ cursor_advance(cursor);
}
+
+ free(cursor);
+
return EXECUTE_SUCCESS;
}