Indexing time vs. query time
Stefan Büttcher, Charles L. A. Clarke · 2005
We examine issues in the design of fully dynamic information retrieval systems supporting both document insertions and deletions. The two main components of such a system, index maintenance and query processing, affect each other, as high query performance is usually paid for by additional work during update operations. Two aspects of the system -- incremental updates and garbage collection for delayed document deletions -- are discussed, with a focus on the respective indexing vs. query performance trade-offs. Depending on the relative number of queries and update operations, different strategies lead to optimal overall performance.